GIYANI – Two men, Thabo Rachabeli (33) from Polokwane and Essie Thani Mabaye (28) also from Polokwane have appeared in the Giyani magistrate’s court last Thursday on charges of armed robbery, possession of suspected stolen motor vehicle and possession of unlicensed firearm and ammunition.

The incident relating to the case occurred outside the Giyani branch of Absa bank last Monday morning at about 09:15. According to the spokesperson of the police in the Mopani Area, Capt Moatshe Ngoepe, the security officers for the Fidelity Guards Company had parked their vehicle outside the bank before the incident.

They then started offloading cash from the vehicle. In the process six armed men emerged and pointed the guards with firearms before demanding money from them. According to the police statement the robbers managed to grab three boxes containing an undisclosed amount of money.

They loaded the boxes into a maroon BMW car and drove away in the Elim Hospital direction. About 20km away from the scene the car got a puncture. The statement further indicates that while the robbers were still busy repairing the puncture, the police got the information that the robbers were battling to get their car in motion.

Moments thereafter the police arrived at the scene. Five of the robbers fled and vanished in the surrounding bushes. One of them was arrested at the scene. The police recovered the three boxes that were containing cash but at that stage they were already empty.

The police managed to arrest another robber in the bushes the following day, Tuesday morning. They also recovered two vehicles, a rifle that was allegedly used during the armed robbery and some cash during the arrest of the second suspect.

According to the police statement the recovered BMW was stolen from Edenvale in Johannesburg some weeks ago. They were still busy circulating the other two vehicles at the time of going to press. They were not asked to plead when they appeared in court and their case was remanded for today, Friday, July 30.

They were not granted any bail. The police have appealed to anyone with information relating to the incident to contact the nearest police station.