Cash-in-transit suspect rearrested after skipping bail a year ago

The law has caught up with a Gauteng man who disappeared for more than a year after posting bail in an Eastern Cape court.

Mpho Freddy Modise was one of four men  arrested in connection with a R4m cash-in-transit heist on the R61 in Libode on September 3 2019.

The men were granted R20,000 bail each by the Libode magistrate's court a few days later.

Modise, 40, of Mathibestad in Hammanskraal, never set foot in the court again, but was rearrested on Monday.

A Gauteng tracing team, together with Pretoria crime intelligence, traced and arrested him, said Eastern Cape Hawks spokesperson Lwando Zenzile..

Modise and his co-accused - Ofentse Setlhabi, 39, of Equistria in Pretoria, Harry Olebeng Matome, 42, of Mahoapane in Pretoria, and Fanuel Fani Mokgagane, 46, of Soshanguve in Pretoria - were initially arrested in a joint intelligence-led operation on the N1 outside Sasolburg in the Free State.

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Their arrest followed a cash van heist in Mdlankomo village in the OR Tambo district.

Zenzile said Modise made a brief appearance in the Libode magistrate's court on Wednesday after his arrest. He remains in custody pending the finalisation of his trial.

“During their arrest in Sasolburg, an undisclosed amount of cash and a number of firearms were seized. Bail was successfully opposed but later the four suspects were released on R20,000 bail. Modise decided not to attend any court proceedings and a warrant of arrest was authorised by the court,” Zenzile said.

Modise and his co-accused will be back in the dock on November 2 for trial.

The four men face several counts of robbery with aggravated circumstances, a count of attempted murder, unlawful possession of firearms and ammunition, and malicious damage to property.

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