OR Tambo 'airport-follow' robberies: Company slams arrested manager
16 October 2017
Johannesburg - Mafoko Security Patrols has distanced itself from the arrest over the weekend of one of its managers in the so-called "airport-follow" robberies.
"We had no prior knowledge of their actions and we were not aware that our vehicles were misused for the commission of these crimes," the company said in a statement on Monday.
Police spokesperson Brigadier Vishnu Naidoo said the breakthrough of the arrests came on Friday evening.
Naidoo said the team, who acted on information, monitored a security vehicle and discovered that this vehicle, which is contracted to work at OR Tambo International Airport (ORTIA), was following a sedan from ORTIA travelling towards Sandton.
Police stopped the security vehicle with two men in. Naidoo said one of the men, a security manager, was wanted for a case of possession of an unlicensed firearm and an armed robbery in the Limpopo province.
Both were arrested on the scene.
The security company said the two men acted in their own personal capacity and that the men were not deployed to the airport.
"Their line of work does not include that particular site. The alleged 'security company manager' was deployed elsewhere and his line of work required that he be provided with a marked security vehicle at all times, a privilege which he has clearly abused."
Four other men were arrested in Hillbrow during the early hours of Saturday morning. All six suspects are between 23 and 38 years of age. They are expected to appear in court on Monday.
A seventh suspect was still at large.
Police found several incriminating items, including the security vehicle, a sedan, passports, at least 15 cellular phones and several luggage bags during the arrests in Hillbrow.
Two pistols had also been recovered and sent for ballistic testing to establish which crimes, if any, they might have been used in.
