Hawks win forfeiture order after Cape Town cash-in-transit heist

The high court in Cape Town has ordered the forfeiture of two vehicles and R290,000 from suspects in two Hawks cases.

In the first case, the court ordered the forfeiture of a VW Polo and R290,000, seized after a robbery in Mitchells Plain in 2015, said Hawks spokesperson Captain Philani Nkwalase.

“It is alleged that on December 28 2015, SBV [security company] vehicle driver Fuzile Artwell Rala, 39, was approached by a suspect whilst the crew was busy outside loading cash at the ATM, situated at the petrol station in Promenade Mall,” said Nkwalase.

The vehicle drove off and was recovered in Khayelitsha, where Rala told police he had been ordered to stop. He was arrested the next day.

“Further investigation linked four suspects to the robbery and the Hawks members seized a VW Polo worth R75,000 and a total cash amount of R290,000 from different suspects,” said Nkwalase.

The high court ordered that the car be auctioned and the cash be deposited into the criminal assets recovery account.

In the second case, the court ordered the auction of a Kia truck, confiscated in 2017 when five suspects were arrested in Barrydale with 30 rolls of copper cable.

“Hawks investigation later linked them [the men] to the alleged theft of Telkom copper cables at Keurboschfontein, just outside Ladismith,”  said Nkwalase.

Neither case has been finalised.

Nkwalase said the Hawks and other police officers arrested a man on the N2 in Sedgefield in the Western Cape on February 28 with 472kg of dagga, worth R900,000, in his vehicle. He is believed to have been carrying it from the Eastern Cape to George.

Sicelo Sokaba, 31, is expected to apply for bail when he appears in Knysna Magistrate’s Court on March 13.