CMY3706 EXAM PREP

CIT ROBBERIES (MODUS OPERANDI, PROFILE, PREVENTION MEASURES) – 25 MARKS 1. INTRODUCTION Cash-in-transit (CIT) robberies have become a regular occurrence in South Africa. Incidents have been recorded as early as 1971, an example of which is “The Great Trust Bank Robbery”. Much planning and precision goes into the orchestration of a heist, and the offenders often take their time doing sufficient investigative research of the movements of CIT vehicles, as well as the behaviour of the guards. On most occasions, large sums of money are stolen, and seldom recovered. 2. DEFINITION OF KEY CONCEPTS According to the South African Banking Risk Intelligence Centre (SABRIC 2010:6), CIT robbery refers to the violent seizing of cash. It is defined as unlawful, and occurs while under the supervision and control of a security company. Incidents of CIT robberies can take place outside or inside a bank, or on other premises. An armoured vehicle (AV) is one used for the purpose of safely transporting the cash from one premises to another. They are re-enforced and often armour-plated to withstand physical attacks. Modus operandi refers to the method used by perpetrators to carry out the robberies. 3. MODUS OPERANDI OF CASH-IN-TRANSIT ROBBERS There are believed to be two main forms of CIT attacks (Esterhuysen 2014:3). The first one is the type that takes place on the road, usually freeways. A security van which is travelling to transport cash either from or to premises is immobilised by means of ramming it or boxing it in, to then be able to remove the cash. The second type takes place when a CIT staff member is carrying or loading the cash onto a stationery security vehicle, or if the staff member is offloading the cash from the stationery vehicle to carry into the bank. This category of CIT robbery is called cross-pavement robbery. The perpetrators take much time in planning and preparing for these robberies. The accuracy of the plan often dictates the probability of the robbery being successful (Hubschle 2010:41). Included in the planning process is choosing the target, choosing gang members, deciding on weapons and getaway vehicles, considering the use of disguises, evaluating security measures used by the target and how this can be bypassed, and the delegation of the various tasks (Hubschle 2010:45; Willis 2006:4). According to Thobane (2014:201), this planning process usually takes about one week to two months, depending on the difficulty of the job. The timing of robberies are carefully selected to limit possible witnesses and to reduce the possibility of interruptions (Morrison and O’Donnell:1996). 3.1 MEMBERSHIP AND CONNECTIONS Recruiting members is a very important part of the planning process. Criteria for recruitment include expertise, characteristics, as well as available resources. It is often the case that there is no single leader, and any of the members can recruit new members. There are usually groups belonging to certain township areas, and they may call on each other to assist in robberies if felt necessary, but usually in the case of CIT robberies, a group of five to six people is needed. 3.2 OTHER ASSOCIATES Robbery crews will often enlist the cooperation of an employee from the bank/CIT company that they are planning to target for a robbery. This helps to ensure the success of the robbery, as the perpetrators are fed inside information which provides them with an added advantage. 3.3 WEAPONS The weapons most often used in CIT robberies are AK47s, handguns, machine guns, crow bars, CZs (Thobane 2014:170). Robbers also make use of knives to open bags, and spiked chains to incapacitate a security vehicle. According to Rossouw (2004:43), other weapons also used in CIT robberies also include LM4s and LM