Trio in court after allegedly making off with R8,000 in cash-in-transit heist

A taxi driver, spaza shop cashier and a department of agriculture messenger appeared in the Malelane magistrate's court on Monday in connection with a cash-in-transit heist in Mpumalanga last week in which R8,000 was stolen.

Mosa Bhekifa Ngwenyama, Ali Obi Ebrahim and Mfanasibili Lawrence Lubisi were arrested after a Fidelity van was bombed near Tonga.

Capt Dineo Lucy Sekgotodi said the trio were arrested in Schoemansdal hours after the heist.

“The armoured vehicle of Fidelity was travelling from Malelane towards Tonga on August 11 when the vehicle was attacked by a group of criminals about 15km from the N4. The vehicle was rammed by a Mercedes-Benz C-class and lost control and overturned,” Sekgotodi said.

Sekgotodi said police recovered guns and two stolen vehicles, a Mercedes-Benz ML 350 and a Ford Ranger bakkie, when they arrested the accused. 

Mpumalanga Hawks head Maj-Gen Nicholas Gerber applauded the good working relationship between the police and the community which led to the arrests.   

“We cannot conquer crime alone, we need more information from the community for us to be able to arrest and remove criminals from the community to jail where they belong,” Gerber said. 

The accused remain in custody and will appear again in court on August 21.