One of the South African Police Service’s own was among the four people taken in for questioning yesterday (Tuesday) in connection with last week’s multi-million dollar foreign currency heist at OR Tambo International Airport (Ortia).
This seems to confirm freight industry fears of cargo theft collusion.
“It is highly regrettable that one of our own members is among the two. This confirms our version of not ruling out the possibility of collusion and/or an inside job,” said SAPS spokesperson, Brigadier Sally de Beer.
Speaking at a press conference, de Beer said two of the suspects had appeared in the Kempton Park Magistrate’s Court yesterday while two others were still being questioned.
“As the South African Police Service we would like to reiterate our stance, that if we find that any of our members had a role to play we will take decisive action,” De Beer said.
She added that investigations were ongoing and that further court appearances and arrests were likely to be made.
The freight industry has expressed concern that the number of heists in and around Ortia seems to be increasing, with Alwyn Rautenbach, chairman of the Air Cargo Operators’ Committee (Acoc), telling FTW Online’s sister publication, FTW, last week there had been a number of other robberies at the airport, some of which also involved the use of police uniforms.
He said the modus operandi during the robberies pointed to some form of insider collusion as gaining access to the loading apron would require access cards. Furthermore, Rautenbach pointed out, there needed to be knowledge of the movements of the security company as well as arrival and departure times for specific flights.