Ex-cash-in-transit guard jailed for armed cash heist at mall in Tshwane
A former cash-in-transit guard has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for his role in a cash heist at Batho Plaza by an armed gang in Soshanguve, northern Pretoria.
Tebogo Abraham Leotlela, 49, was sentenced on Friday in the Soshanguve magistrate’s court for his role in the robbery committed in collusion with other security industry staff on October 28 2019.
“Leotlela was among a group of armed robbers who derailed Fidelity guards inside Batho Plaza in Soshanguve just after they had serviced a Capitec bank ATM cubicle. Follow-up investigation resulted in the arrest of Leotlela on October 30 2019. He has been in jail ever since as his numerous bail attempts were successfully opposed,” said Hawks spokesperson Capt Lloyd Ramovha.
“The solid investigation also ensured that Jan Mafolo, 32, Paul Patrick Sekhalelo, 42, both former Fidelity guards, Ernest Lesiba alias “Wire”, now deceased, and July Mkhatswa, 39, were also promptly arrested and charged.
“Mafolo, Sekhalelo, and Makhatswa’s cases were finalized between February and March 2022. They elected to plead guilty and got sentenced to imprisonment ranging from 10 to 39 years respectively.”
TimesLIVE reported previously that a Hawks investigation team, acting on intelligence after the robbery, arrested two men who were former Fidelity Cash Solutions personnel.
They had “provided crucial information while working for Fidelity, regarding the cash distribution vehicles’ movements which subsequently led to excessive cash-in-transit robberies in Gauteng”.
Head of the Hawks in Gauteng Maj-Gen Ebrahim Kadwa said: “Tackling cash-in-transit robberies remains one our top priorities in the province. We are intensifying operations to curb this scourge. The investigators should be proud that their industrious efforts have ensured that such dangerous individuals have been removed from society.”
-TL
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