Cele pledges all-out war on cash bandits
Crack units will be re-equipped and sent out onto the streets
Police Minister Bheki Cele has vowed to take specialised police units out of the barracks and put them back on the street to crack down on the dramatic increase in cash-in-transit heists across South Africa.
"Specialised units are in the barracks when we are under siege. No one will be in the barracks, they will be back on the roads," Cele told the Sunday Times this week.
As private cash-transport companies spend millions of rands to battle the robbers, Cele plans to ensure that specialised units are fighting fit to take on the gangs.
The companies are enlisting helicopters, heavily armed response teams and new technology to try to end the scourge, in which 43 vans have been blown up in the first five months of the year. Nine people have died.
"The issue has been the 'killing' of the relevant structures dealing with cash heists," Cele said. "I have come across specialised units like the national intervention unit and tactical response team, who either have no equipment such as bulletproof vests and boots, [or they have] old outdated equipment, or [their] high-performance cars have been given to police station commissioners."..
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