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JOHANNESBURG. — A vehicle used during the daring heist at OR Tambo Airport on Tuesday night has been recovered in Pretoria. A highly-placed source told News24 that the vehicle was found on Tuesday night with several empty boxes which had held the cash. The source said senior Hawks investigators were probing a police connection in the heist by using a tracker system.
The source said the undisclosed cash, believed to be in the region of around R24m, was stolen from a plane at OR Tambo International Airport on Tuesday, which was destined for the UK.
People in a marked police vehicle intercepted the money after an SAA flight landed, News24 reported on Tuesday evening.
A white Mercedes-Benz is believed to have been used in the operation.
The boxes containing the cash were seized from the plane.
The currency of the stolen loot is unknown at this stage, but is believed to be a mixture of rands, Euros and US dollars.
Hawks spokesperson Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi declined to comment on the information.
He said that Hawks head Lieutenant General Berning Ntlemeza appointed a task team to investigate the case.
“Unfortunately that’s all the information we can reveal at the moment.’’
Meanwhile, the South African Police Services have not ruled out the possibility that the heist was an inside job, Hawks spokesperson Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi told News24 yesterday.
“We can’t rule out anything. Please give us time to investigate. We still have to meet with Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) and conduct security checks. It’s still premature to make any pronouncements.”
Mulaudzi said a high-level investigation, involving all law enforcement agencies, was underway. He declined to divulge further information.
Acsa spokesperson Trevor Jones said there had been a robbery, but he could not confirm the amount of money stolen.
“No shots were fired and no injuries have been reported. The robbers fled and it is not known at this stage what, if anything, was taken during the incident,” Acsa subsequently said in a statement.
“The investigation is at an early stage. Updates will be provided when more information is available.”
Flights were unaffected. — News24.
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