INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPERS

Photo: Ihsaan Haffejee

A slick gang armed with apparent inside information on the money collection operations of one of the country’s biggest cash-in-transit companies has pulled off a con in Pretoria.

Dressed like Protea Coin guards, two men, driving a vehicle made to look exactly like one of the company’s cash vans, drove on to the Tshwane University of Technology’s main Pretoria campus and left again without arousing anyone’s suspicions.

Inside their vehicle was R900 000 in cash. The money, according to the university, was student registration fees.

The theft came hours after the same gang struck at a petrol station in Pinehaven outside Joburg, and made off with hundreds of thousands of rand in cash.

The con, say Protea Coin staffers, has left the company red-faced, with the chief executive, Petrus van Niekerk, unable to explain how uniforms, badges, insignia and other equipment ended up in the hands of the robbers.

According to Van Niekerk, this is not the first time something like this has happened.

“Our opposition have also been affected by this type of thing. It is not only us,” he said.

He threatened not to respond again to a Pretoria News enquiry if the newspaper “made us look bad”.

So well orchestrated was the con that it was discovered only when the genuine guards came to collect the money.

A police source said the only way to distinguish the conmen’s van from the company’s was by its windscreen.

“This van’s windscreen is not bulletproof and it is shaped slightly differently,” he said.

“It is clear that they got the design plans for the van and had it built for them.

“By the way it drives you can see it is armoured, so if it is found it will be difficult to take out those inside.

“These guys are definitely pros and know what they are doing. They are going to be difficult to catch and will be caught only if they make a mistake.”

TUT spokeswoman Willa de Ruyter said those responsible were a “slick” gang.

“They knew exactly what to do, what to say and where to go. They were so good that they bypassed every security point we had.

“They had all the right equipment, from the hand-held scanner used to scan each money bag’s barcode, to all the necessary identity documents and staff badges.

“These guys were so good and confident of getting away with this that they did not hide their faces and signed for each and every money bag as per procedure.

“They went through so many security points and not once did any of our staff suspect anything; not even at the money collection room. Even the vehicle they used looked authentic and had all the right markings and colours.

“If you parked a genuine cash van next to it you would not notice the difference unless you had a trained eye.”

De Ruyter said this was the first time such an theft had occurred. The gang had escaped with R900 000 in student registration fees.

“Besides the current security measures there is not much more we can do to improve the security around money collection.”

Asked if it was suspected to be an inside job, Van Niekerk said it was not. “Obviously nothing in life is a guarantee, but we don’t suspect our staff.”

Van Niekerk said none of the company’s vehicles was missing.

“They have obviously studied our vehicles and got information on how to build a cash collection vehicle to look exactly like ours,” he said.

He appealed to Protea Coin customers to be on the lookout for any suspicious activities from people claiming to be from the company.

The company was working with its opposition and police to catch those responsible for the theft.

De Ruyter appealed to students registering for the year to make a bank deposit or an electronic funds transfer into the institution’s bank account. - Pretoria News