Small-town ATMs to get extra protection

Law enforcement agencies have deployed experienced officers to small South African towns they suspect could become easy targets of ATM bombers.

Eight would-be ATM bombers - including controversial Pietermaritzburg traditional healer Mduduzi Manqele - were killed in a gun battle with police near Howick, in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands, at the weekend.

Manqele, 53, rose to notoriety in January 2011 when he was linked to the beheading of a teenage boy, Loyiso Jokweni.

He was acquitted of murder but his co-accused, Roger Thusi, received a life sentence.

Hawks spokesman Hangwani Mulaudzi said yesterday small towns were likely to be "easy targets" for syndicates wanting quick cash by bombing ATMs.

"From September they start mobilising. In October and November, you will see ATM bombings and robberies at malls.

"We have deployed resources to small towns. That is all I can say now. We are also working with the SA Banking Risk Information Centre to provide us with intelligence of where the huge movements of money will be."

Mulaudzi said syndicates regarded small towns as places "where there is easy money which you can take and go".

"A criminal network will always have its own branches everywhere. We need to deal with the core. That is where we are now."

Johan Burger, senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies, said the police clampdown on cash-in-transit heists le d to criminals changing strategy .

"Co-operation between police and the banks resulted in fewer heists."

Burger said ATMs were easy targets for criminals.

"If you hit a number of targets in one night you can secure a large amount of cash. They make substantial profit with minimal risk."

Most of the explosives were sourced from mines, he said.

"I'm not generalising, but the explosive experts in ATM crimes are usually the same people trained to use them in mining."

Sabric head Kalyani Pillay said Gauteng experienced 40% of the total number of ATM crimes in the country from the beginning of last year to now.

"When comparing the period January to November 2015 with the same period in 2016 ATM attacks in Gauteng increased by 4%, KwaZulu-Natal by 14%, North West by 56%, Mpumalanga by 38% and Western Cape by 44%," she said.