Investigations ongoing in Hazyview CIT case

The Mpumalanga Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) are still investigating a cash-in-transit (CIT) heist that occurred on the R40 between Hazyview and White River on December 15, 2022.

Two guards, who had not been occupants of the CIT vehicle, but were thought to have been passing by the scene in a security-branded vehicle on their way to another destination, were injured in the incident when the bullets from a shoot-out between the occupants of the targeted vehicle and the suspects ensued.

According to a Lowvelder source, who could not be named, the CIT vehicle was being driven from Hazyview towards White River when an unknown number of suspects travelling in two Mercedes-Benzes and a Toyota Hilux pulled up next to it and began firing shots.

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The security guards who were wounded had been driving about 800m behind the CIT van when one of the occupants in one of the Mercedes-Benzes began shooting at them.

According to Emer-G-Med’s Martin Jeffrey, one of the guards was shot in the hand and the other in the back. They were reportedly forced to stop their car, and the suspects robbed them of their service pistols and their cellphones.

Meanwhile, the suspects in the Hilux and the other Mercedes had bombed the CIT vehicle and made off with an undisclosed amount of cash, speeding off in Hazyview’s direction. The CIT van’s guards were uninjured during the heist.

Jeffrey said the injured guards were transported to a nearby hospital in a stable condition.

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The R40 between Hazyview and White River was closed for hours as law enforcement processed the scene.

Hawks head office spokesperson Colonel Katlego Mogale said no arrests had yet been made She said the guards had also been discharged from hospital following the incident.