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Guard fingered in armed robbery

Thanduxolo Gabha

Thanduxolo Gabha

The Mdantsane regional court yesterday heard how a cash guard colluded with swindlers to rob a pension pay point in Newlands near East London last year.

Seven people have been arrested in connection with the robbery, which took place on July.

The investigating officer, Inspector Rob Webber, said the accused confessed to the crime and told him that the security guard passed the information on to them. He said the guard tipped them off about the number of guards deployed at the Newlands pension pay point and the calibre of firearms they carried.

The court also heard how the girlfriend of one of the accused, Camagu Zimele, 31, of Port Elizabeth helped him and his co-accused with the information about the date and the time the pension money is paid out.

Webber told the court that Zimele visited his girlfriend on the evening of the robbery to confirm everything before they carried out the robbery.

The robbery was successfully carried out after three armed men, wearing the uniforms of Fidelity Springbok Services guards' entered the pension pay point and disarmed the security guards.

Four other men in plain clothes also entered the pay point and made off with about R400000

After the heist, Zimele's girlfriend was allegedly given R1000 in cash to "thank her" for the information she had given to the robbers.

Webber also said that the accused paid R1000 to their friend, who was initially involved in the planning, but pulled out later on.

But the seven accused testified that police forced them to confess to the crime after they had allegedly tortured them. The case was heard over three days - from Monday to Wednesday - before the magistrate postponed it to February 27 for bail application.

The accused are being held in custody.

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