WATCH: How masked men shot at bakkie, cut off van in Pretoria CIT robbery

Police are searching for a group of armed suspects who fled the N4 highway outside Pretoria with an undisclosed amount of cash after a cash-in-transit robbery caused chaos and road closures.

Provincial police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Netshiunda said the suspects on Monday allegedly robbed security guards of three firearms, a rifle and two pistols, and fled the scene with some money.

“Both the escort vehicle and the cash truck collided with the suspects’ vehicles,” Netshiunda said of the CIT robbery.

“The escort vehicle overturned and left two security guards injured. The driver of the cash truck and his crew member also sustained injuries.”

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Nobodile Masilela (not his real name) told The Citizen how the drama unfolded.

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“Around 9am, I was working in the garden when I heard something that sounded like shooting at steel. I peeked through the gate and I saw the commotion in the street,” he said.

Masilela walked to the bridge that overlooked the N4 highway, where he saw part of the robbery play out.

“I saw everything. I saw the Audi, bumping and shooting at the bakkie. The bakkie tried to drive away, but they blocked him with another car.

“The Fortuner caused the bakkie to overturn.

“When they stopped, a group of men with balaclavas and guns jumped out of the Audi and Fortuner,” Masilela said.

“They shot at the bakkie and hit the windows with AK47s, but the windows didn’t break. They burned the Audi but the Fortuner didn’t want to burn. They climbed onto a Mahindra and went to the van on the other side of the bridge.”

Masilela said he saw five cars: two Mahindras, two Fortuners and the Audi.

“They went for the van and started cutting it off the road. And then, boom, they got them. I watched how they loaded money into a white Fortuner,” he said.

A criminologist at the University of Limpopo, Professor Jaco Barkhuizen, said crime usually spiked in December.

“Whether it’s cash-in-transit heists, robberies, or break-ins – all because the country is in a massive turmoil. Our unemployment rate is unsustainably high.”

Barkhuizen said it was also Christmas bonus time, which meant there was more money going around at this time.

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“Due to the influx of money in the economy, you will see more crimes of this nature.

“Syndicates and criminals know there is more money going around and more unattended houses as people go on leave.”

Barkhuizen said December was known as a high crime period.

– marizkac@citizen.co.za