NOTHING much happened in Koster, North West ... until a gang rolled into town this week and pulled off a daring bank robbery -a first for the tiny farming town in the heart of the province's platinum belt.
Loud explosions and heavy gunfire at the FNB and Absa ATMs in the centre of town woke residents early on Tuesday morning.
But the duty shift at the Koster police station was briefly stuck without cars because the robbers had padlocked the gate to the yard.
However, two policemen in a lone patrol car were nearby and rushed to the scene.
Although outnumbered by the six-man gang, the two policemen engaged in an "epic" gun battle, according to witnesses. No one was injured, but judging from the trail of spent R5 and AK47 cartridges, the gang was heavily armed.
A senior officer at the Koster station said the vans had been locked in "but it was only the back-up vehicles". He said bolt cutters had quickly solved the problem. The robbers were also "kind" enough not to have injured or killed anyone.
Aaliyah Bhyat, 20, and her family live a few kilometres from the scene.
"I heard two loud blasts. I thought someone was trying to get into our house.
"It was frightening," she said.
The owner of a garage said that when he got to the scene of the robbery, the police were already collecting evidence.
"The cashier and the petrol attendants were traumatised.
"They have never seen anything like that," he said.
A high-ranking officer at the Koster police station, which has about 75 officers, said the suspects had fled in two Mercedes-Benz vehicles and a Volkswagen Amarok bakkie. "They didn't get any money from the FNB, but it seems they got away with about R230000 from Absa," he said.
"Our policemen are not trained to deal with these types of criminals."
Naturally, the robbery was the talk of the town this week, especially at the local pub, Tolla's, where brandy and cola is the drink of choice.
It made a change from the karaoke and a discussion on next season's chances for the town's pride and joy, the Koster rugby XV.
"It was very scary," a woman said - but she was talking about the robbery, not the rugby team's recent season.
The small farming town is in the Kgetleng River local municipality along with neighbouring towns Derby and Swart-ruggens. They have a collective population of 51000.
Trucks travelling between Johannesburg and Botswana pass through Koster daily.
On the outskirts of town is the township of Reagile - home to mostly farm labourers.
A local policeman living in Reagile said: "Even here in the township people are talking about it.
"It's big news. There's not a lot of crime in Reagile like there is in town. The police officers are traumatised ... We are not used to this type of crime.
"This was a wake-up call for us," he said.
Last year's recorded crime statistics in Koster were six murders, 21 house robberies, 116 home burglaries, 59 stock theft cases and 31 arrests for drunk driving.
Although there was only one truck hijacking recorded, the high-ranking policeman insisted that this was a "big problem" along the R509 - the road to Koster from Johannesburg.
laganparsadm@sundaytimes.co.za
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