Cop among seven arrested for plotting CIT heist

Police arrested seven suspects, including a police constable, in Johannesburg on Thursday for allegedly plotting a cash-in-transit heist.

Police spokesperson Brig Vishnu Naidoo said they were tipped off about the suspects allegedly plotting the heist in the city CBD.

The police tracked down a Toyota Hilux and a Ford Ranger next to a petrol station in Smit Street where a shootout ensued.

“The suspects fired at the police but the police overpowered and arrested them. It was discovered that the Ford Ranger used by the suspects is an official police vehicle attached to Silverton SAPS detectives and was being driven by a constable attached to the Silverton Detective Service,” Naidoo said in a statement on Thursday.

“Three other men were in the Ford Ranger with the constable while the others were found in another bakkie which was reported hijacked in Garsfontein.”

Police recovered two guns and two explosives.

National police commissioner Gen Khehla John Sitole praised the police task team but said he was “filled with disgust at the alleged involvement of one of our own in these types of crime”.