A South African National Defence Force (SANDF) member is on Monday expected to appear before the Oudshoorn Magistrate’s Court after he was arrested at the weekend in connection with a cash-in-transit heist at a petrol station in the town last week.

The arrest was made by the Hawks National Priority Violent Crimes team (NPVC), together with the Attaqua K9 Unit from Oudtshoorn.

In a statement, the Hawks said the 36-year-old SANDF captain, attached to the Infantry School in Oudtshoorn, was arrested on Friday and would be the fourth suspect to be charged after three suspects were arrested shortly after the incident.

“This comes after security guards from Fidelity Cash Solutions were robbed while collecting cash from a petrol station. One of the security guards was accosted by two armed suspects while on his way back to his armoured vehicle. He was disarmed of his service pistol and robbed of a bag containing cash,” said Hawks spokesperson, Zinzi Hani.

She said minutes after the robbery, the Hawks’ team stopped a Nissan Sentra and arrested three occupants.

“A search of the vehicle resulted in the seizure of the stolen security guard firearm and sealed money bag containing the stolen cash, along with a second firearm, which had its serial number filed off.

“The Hawks team also found a full SANDF uniform in the Nissan Sentra. None of the three occupants were soldiers. A loyal service medal was pinned to the jacket with the name and rank of the SANDF member.

“Further probing found that the vehicle that was used in the robbery, a white Toyota Tazz fitted with false number plates, had been driven by the SANDF member. The white Toyota Tazz drove away from the crime scene and stopped next to a silver/blue Nissan Sentra and the stolen goods were transferred from the Toyota Tazz to the Nissan Sentra.”

On Wednesday, the Hawks team followed up on information received from Oudtshoorn detectives on the whereabouts of the Toyota Tazz used in the robbery.

The Tazz was found parked inside a garage of a residence in Oudtshoorn, not far from the Infantry School. The set of false number plates used in the robbery was found inside the vehicle.

“Consequently, the SANDF member was arrested. The suspect is due to appear on 26 July 2021 in the Oudtshoorn Magistrates Court on charges of robbery with aggravating circumstances,” Hani said.

Source: South African Government News Agency