KwaMhlanga Police arrest a Police Constable in connection with CIT Heist

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Photo: Supplied \Hawks

A 38 years old police Constable Zacharia Makgaolane Magopa will spend this weekend in police holding cells after being arrested by his colleagues.

Magopa was arrested this past Tuesday during a Crime intelligence driven operation by the Hawks in Mpumalanga CIT tracking team as well as Kwamhlanga’s Crime Intelligence.

This is according to Spokesperson Captain Dineo Sekgotodi who also said that two of Magopa’s alleged co-accused were taken in for questioning and later released.

“Magopa was allegedly linked to a cash in transit incident which happened in the early hours of the morning on Monday, 01 February 2021. Three security guards were transporting an undisclosed amount of money to several ATMs around Moutse West. The security guards were accosted by unknown suspects driving in an Audi Q3 and a Mercedes Benz.  Several shots were fired at the armed vehicle causing it to come to standstill.”

“The security guards were disarmed and explosives were used to gain access to the money bags and the suspects fled scene with an undisclosed amount of cash in several vehicles. Three vehicles which include a Mercedes Benz, Q3 and A4 Audi were later found abondoned in different locations near Vaalbank.”

Captain Sekgotodi also said that further investigation revealed that the Mercedes Benz vehicle was stolen as per Jeppe case in February 2020 while the A4 was stolen in Yeoville in December 2020 and the Q3 was reported as stolen in Sebenza in October 2020.

A charcoal Kia Rio was also found abandoned which is also reported stolen in Secunda  in July 2020.

“Further Investigation by the Hawks led team to recover R30 000.00 from a Sangoma which was used as payment to perform some rituals for their protection to evade arrest.”

The case against Magopa was postponed to the 11 February 2021 for a formal bail application.