Police recover over P4m from alleged robbers
Koketso Kgoboge | Tuesday March 31, 2020 14:26
The money was stolen from a security services company vehicle. The P4.9 million consignment was to be delivered in Selebi-Phikwe. Police senior superintendent Paul Oketsang said they suspected the robbers had confidential information about the shipment.
The security service company driver is amongst the seven arrested after the heist. “We learnt from one of the suspects during interrogation that they had connived with the driver, and we moved quickly to arrest him,” he said.
According to Oketsang’s report, four passengers of a blue BMW vehicle ambushed the shipment van and pounced once off the busy A1 Highway. The attackers were three men and a woman.
They hijacked the van and drove off into the nearby thickets leaving the driver and his colleague unharmed at the scene. The suspects broke the locks and stole P4.9 million from the vehicle.
Oketsang said they received the report at 2pm and responded swiftly. The police arrested a woman and one of the men in the vicinity of the crime scene.
The two failed to account for their suspicious presence at the scene.
The getaway BMW was later traced to Francistown where four more suspects were arrested – three men and another woman. Six of the suspects are Batswana and one is Zimbabwean, an illegal immigrant.
Oketsang said the investigations were at preliminary stages but they are working effortlessly to have the suspects appear before court.
“Our investigations are ongoing, we have recovered most of the money,” the Selebi-Phikwe police district chief said.