The police service should get rid of criminal elements in the crime intelligence unit if they want to reduce incidents of cash-in-transit robberies. Police should also recruit more informers and agents to assist in the fight against these crimes.These are the recommendations a senior lecturer from the University of South Africa‚ Dr Hennie Lochner‚ received from convicted robbers he interviewed for his doctoral study on cash-in-transit robberies.Lochner told a seminar hosted by the Institute for Security Studies about the interviews he had with 21 convicted cash-in-transit robbers who were serving time in prisons and had exhausted all legal means to be released. “As a former detective‚ cash-in-transit robbers are the most dangerous and violent criminals in South Africa.” Lochner said.Lochner said fingers were pointed at certain police officers in some of the police units.“It is of great concern that some of these individuals are members of the unit from crime intelligence.”Lochner said during the interview‚ some of the people he interviewed referred to some members of the intelligence unit during the planning where they were investigating the same target.“In some cases‚ the officers of the crime units arrived at the safe houses to share the loot‚’ Lochner said.He said the criminals he interviewed had committed a number of crimes which they had not been arrested for‚ including business robbery and theft.“Half of the (criminals) had previous convictions which had an element of violence.”He said although none of them had obtained a post-matric qualification‚ two of them completed their qualifications while they were serving time.Lochner says from the interview‚ none of the robberies was committed on behalf or for the benefit of a political party.Despite the operations of cash-in-transit robbers being carried out with military precision‚ only one of the interviewees had received military planning.“They plan their operations in detail.”He found that the robbers bought property such as smallholdings‚ flats and houses in secure complexes.Lochner said while he believed before the interviews that cash-in-transit robbers were part of the lower classes and would hide and interact with those classes‚ the study proved him wrong.“They blend in with normal society‚ visit normal paces and in some instances socialise with professionals. Professionals include a professor‚ an accountant‚ a doctor and well-known lawyer.“All cash-in-transit robbers spend money on expensive clothes and shoes. They stay away from township and shebeens.”..