There has been a 49 per cent increase in cash-in-transit attacks for the first eight months of this year, compared to the same period last year.
Wahl Bartmann, Fidelity Group CEO, confirmed that just last week eight to 10 armed suspects gained access to the Fidelity Vryheid depot, making off with millions of rand.
This week he confirmed there were a further two incidents, one in Brits and one in the Free State, but both were unsuccessful.
“Unfortunately we have seen a spike in cash-in-transit heists across the country this year, and these incidents exacerbate an already dire situation of attacks on cash-in-transit vehicles and staff,” said Bartmann.
According to statistics compiled by The South African Banking Risk Information Centre (Sabric) between 1 January and 31 August this year, there have been 232 incidents across the industry involving various modus operandi, cross-pavement attacks being the most prevalent.
“We know that syndicates perpetrating these kinds of crimes are highly skilled and organized. We are constantly evolving our technology and changing our procedures to ensure we stay one step ahead of the criminals.
“Unfortunately the increase in crime, coupled with high unemployment is impacting on the number of robberies and heists. We have also seen a move from urban areas, where we have clamped down quite substantially, to the more outlying areas,” said Bartmann.
Kalyani Pillay, Sabric CEO, said heists are no longer confined to urban areas only but also occur in rural towns across South Africa.
“The provinces that experienced the highest increases in the past eight months are the Western Cape followed by North West and Gauteng,” said Pillay.
Sabric is working closely with Fidelity and other cash-in-transit companies and law enforcement officials to analyse the crime risk information and jointly come up with strategies and risk mitigation measures to collectively deal with this crisis.
Bartmann cautioned consumers to stay alert, particularly as we move towards the festive season where heists of this nature typically spike even further. “We know wherever there is money, there is a risk, and this risk does escalate at certain times of the month and typically during the latter half of the year.”
Also read:
Cash-in-transit heist on the N1 North at the Buccleuch interchange
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