NATIONAL NEWS - Fourteen Prasa employees were caught red-handed trying to rob their own office in Hatfield on Wednesday, Rekord East reports.
The arrests were made after police received a call from Prasa security officers about a business robbery in progress at the premises at around 01:30, said police spokesperson Captain Colette Weilbach.
“Brooklyn police immediately responded and found employees of Prasa on the premises,” said Weilbach.
“The employees then showed the police their Prasa employment cards and said that they were checking up on the security personnel.”
“According to the [alleged robbers] the security personnel often did not do their work and tended to sleep on the job.
“The police officers then left, but kept on patrolling the surrounding areas.
Later on, another phone call was received, this time from security officers from the University of Pretoria.
They informed the police about “suspicious” activities at the Prasa premises.
The Brooklyn police officers called for back-up and responded to the crime scene for a second time.
Upon their arrival, they found the same Prasa personnel on the premises with firearms and the security personnel tied up.
The police immediately arrested the 13 suspects, all of whom were Prasaemployees.
Two firearms were also confiscated.
Weilbach said further investigation showed that the gang allegedly tried to steal Toyota Quantum minibuses, which belonged to Prasa.
Later on, a 33-year-old woman was arrested where she was waiting in a getaway vehicle at a nearby garage.
A toy Uzi gun was found inside the vehicle.
She was also an employee at Prasa.
The suspects, aged between 28 and 51, are mostly from Soweto and Diepkloof.
They were expected to appear in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on charges of attempted business robbery on Friday.
Brooklyn police station commander Brigadier Kushie Nair applauded the policeofficers for their swift response and vigilance that led to the suspects’ arrest.
She also thanked the UP security officers as well as Hatfield city improvement district security officers for their alertness.
“This is proof that community involvement in reporting suspicious activities can help the police in the fight against crime,” she said.
