On the back of growing concerns about the number of cash heists being reported this year, Fidelity Security CEO, Wahl Bartmann, says just last night there were 2 further incidents in Rustenburg. This brings the number of heists in Rustenburg alone to three for the month of May.
“A Fidelity coin vehicle was bombed on the evening of 9 May in Rustenburg. The second incident happened last night (20 May). Two of our CIT vehicles were travelling in convoy just outside Rustenburg when they were approached by several vehicles with over 10 criminals in the vehicles. There was a shootout and while the CIT vehicles were damaged there were no Fidelity casualties and no money was taken,” he reports. The criminals dumped one vehicle at the site and left in the other vehicles. Blood marks were found in the abandoned vehicle and the hospitals were contacted to report any gun-shot wound victims that may have come in. The body of one of the criminals was later discovered outside Mamelodi.
Bartmann adds that both attempted robberies last night were successfully defended with no loss of life and minimal financial loss.
“There is no doubt that we are seeing isolated spikes in vehicle attacks in the more outlying areas like the North West and Mpumalanga. We believe syndicate groups are re-emerging and are working hard with other role players in the industry to try and determine the route cause of these attacks.”
“As Fidelity we have invested a lot of time, money and research into developing and onboarding technological defense mechanisms as well as in the training of our highly skilled officers. We are seeing a new modus operandi in that suspects are now targeting the passenger and not the driver. It is essential that we continuously evolve to defend against these changing tactics,” he concludes.
Ends