Were it not for the quick thinking and bravery of a police Sub-Inspector, the robbers who hit a Turn Right Shopping Mall in Mogoditshane would probably still be at large and living large on their ill-gotten money.
Good sources tell Sunday Standard that when a cash-in-transit truck and the police vehicle escorting it arrived at the mall, two gun-toting robbers immediately pounced. They ordered the officer to surrender their rifles even before they got out. However, as they complied, one officer also whipped out something else – his cellphone. At great risk to his own life and limb, the officer, a Sub-Inspector, told the person on the other hand what had just happened and the location of the incident. At a point where the robbers – who miraculously didn’t shoot – could snatch the phone from and subdue him, the officer had relayed very valuable information for backup support.
A police source says that the information was, in turn, immediately relayed to an airborne police helicopter crew. As the chopper winged its way to the crime scene, grounds units patrolling the city – which would have included plainclothes officers from various security services driving around in unmarked cars – were also put on alert. At a point when the robbers took off from the mall, the chopper, which flies at an incredibly high speed, was already onto them and providing second-by-second intelligence to whole teams of security agents down about the robbers’ location and the escape route they were using. In no time, the robbers’ advance was cut off by a combined security force with much more firepower than they did and taking stock of the situation, surrendered. One robber, a South African (“the fatter one”, a source says), reportedly tried to engage the security force in armed battle, saw red and gave up. The stolen money and firearms, which the robbers had apparently thrown away as they fled, were recovered. The fifth suspect managed to evade the police and at press time, was still at large. In a video that has gone viral, the captured robbers identified their accomplice as “Stash” during questioning by the police.
Another video is of the robbers getting into a hijacked silver Fortuner and fleeing the crime scene. A police source says that afterwards, they ditched the Fortuner and hijacked another getaway car – a lady-driven Vitz. When security agents descended on them from all directions, they ditched the Vitz as well, tried fleeing on foot but there were completely surrounded.
It would seem that at least two of the robbers not only lived large but recklessly wanted the world to know. One, a bat-eared Mochudi native, is all over the Internet flashing thick wads of high-denomination (P200 and P100) currency notes. A Facebook comment alleges that when the spirit moved him, he would use Hennessy cognac (very expensive) and not water to wash his hands. As the would-be robber left court on Friday morning, someone he recognised and appeared to be waving at replied with a “Mokgatla, ga go dirwe jalo” reprimand that the robber ignored. It is unfortunate that he doesn’t have Facebook access right now because whether made in jest or seriousness, Gwen Kells’ gushing comment on the Sunday Standard comment board would certainly warm the cockles of his heart: “Ho riamo guy o ditsebe o tshwere height e ntseng yaana..heela wena I cant live without you e bile hey baby.”
Another video features “Stash” at an afternoon social outing boasting about how he “makes money every day” and doesn’t know how being broke feels like. History would have been made last Wednesday when he didn’t make money that day courtesy of an unusually brave Sub-Inspector.
