Let’s call cash-in-transit heists what they are: a crime against the state
Two weeks ago, a video of a dramatic cash-in-transit heist in Boksburg went viral on social media. South Africans watched in horror as a group of robbers executed a military-style operation targeting two cash vans within 100m of each other in a metropolitan area. They saw the cash vans being rigged with explosives and blown up to the sound of heavy gunfire. It was an extraordinary display of brazen, wanton criminality, the latest mutation of a rampant crime virus that has infected the heart of our towns and cities. It is time to acknowledge cash-in-transit crime for what it is: a crime against the economy. In my book, Heist! SA’s Cash-in-transit Epidemic Uncovered, I analyse 10 heists perpetrated during a period of 21 years: from brazen highway attacks on cash vehicles to audacious robberies at cash processing centres and airports. It is a microscopic snapshot of the thousands of cash-in-transit robberies perpetrated during this time, yet in these 10 heists alone criminals took a st...
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