MANKAYANE – It was a futile exercise for the six men who bombed an EswatiniBank ATM in Mankayane in the dead of the night.
The automated teller machine (ATM), situated near the bus rank, reportedly contained E464 980. However, after the dust had settled, investigators recovered the full amount.
It is unclear how the perpetrators failed to leave with any of the banknotes scattered within the ATM vestibule or enclosure. They are said to have left the scene in haste and on foot.
This publication established that the thieves dropped the few banknotes they had collected as they hurriedly escaped the scene to evade arrest. In the end, they reportedly left with their pockets empty.
Five of the suspects were subsequently arrested three hours later while waiting for a kombi at a bus station.
They are South African nationals, while one suspect, believed to be a liSwati, is still on the run. Police are investigating the whereabouts of the liSwati, whose identity is known to them.
The success of the arrests has been attributed to swift action by the Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS).
When the five were arrested, they were found with only South African Rands in their wallets, amounting to E400, which police say is not part of the money that was in the ATM.
The perpetrators struck at 1:30am yesterday and kidnapped three security guards before connecting explosives to the ATM.
They detonated the devices, seriously damaging both the machine and the structure in which it was housed.
The public square in which the crime occurred accommodates three other ATMs from Swaziland Building Society, Nedbank and First National Bank. However, none of these was targeted.
A guard from Fidelity Security Services, who was on duty, said the men pointed a gun at him and asked where the other guards were.
“The others heard the commotion, and when they emerged, the men took all of us captive and made us lie face down in a corner. While some kept watch over us, others were busy connecting wires to the ATM. When the explosive went off, one asked the others to check if there was any money there. They were disappointed that no money was found. They then detonated it a second time, and that is when one shouted: ‘Tsatsani imali’ (collect the money),” said the security guard.
He said the perpetrators went to the bombed ATM to collect the cash, but complained about the heavy smoke that had engulfed the machine. They later left on foot.
Eyewitnesses said some security guards, alarmed by the explosion, saw the men leaving in a group, walking into the veld along the road connecting Mankayane with the Sicunusa Border Gate.
“When they realised they had been spotted, the men fired gunshots to intimidate anyone who might try to follow them,” the source said.
A few hours later, the men reportedly emerged from the veld and tried to stop kombis, intending to leave the area. By then, police were already on high alert and had mounted roadblocks on all main roads.
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