Second Suspect In P9M Heist Nabbed
Pini Bothoko | Tuesday August 31, 2021 09:29
Thabano Ookeditse Ramaja, 32, of Serowe was arrested on Wednesday at his cattle post in the outskirts of Mmashoro village. Ramaja, who is in custody in Gaborone, was arraigned before Village Magistrate Lindiwe Makgoro on Friday.
Representing the prosecution, Superintendent Oagile Bolane of Botswana Police Service pleaded with the court to remand Ramaja in custody until September 9 when he will appear before the court again, together with the first accused, Moagabo Rando Pelontle for mention.
“I also plead with the court to reserve the accused person’s plea,” he said.
The armed robbery occurred near United Lounge in Block 6. Particulars of the offence are that Ramaja and Pelontle, along with other suspects who are still on the run, were armed acting together with a common purpose and allegedly robbed a G4S transit vehicle carrying close to P9 million.
It further stated that the suspects used violence and threatened G4S security guards. Before then, the suspects had allegedly staged the robbery after following the said guards occupying the G4S transit van carrying cash for offloading at First National Bank ATMs.
Furthermore, after the robbery the police then recovered a VW polo vehicle abandoned near Mmopane Block 1, a few minutes’ drive outside Gaborone, believed to have been used by the suspects as their getaway car.
The robbery happened barely two months after another incident in Block 6, in which police shot and killed at least three suspected armed robbers, two of whom got away from the scene.
Last October another cash-in-transit heist occurred in Kumakwane village in which seven men allegedly shot at and robbed a Security Systems van transporting cash amounting to close to P2 million from Gaborone to Gantsi.