In May 2021, a video started to circulate on social media that supposedly showed two men in a cash-in-transit (CIT) vehicle avoiding an armed robbery:
This is a genuine video taken from the dash cam of a cash-in-transit vehicle, and it shows an attempted heist in Pretoria, South Africa. The two men featured in this video, Leo Prinsloo, the driver and a former member of the South African Police Service's Special Task Force, and guard Lloyd Mtombeni, who was on his fourth day at this job, both survived the ordeal uninjured.
South African Trucker reported that Prinsloo was driving a Toyota Landcruiser CIT vehicle with bulletproof windows down the N4 road in Pretoria when a group of armed robbers opened fire on the vehicle.
National Police spokesman BrigadierVish Naidoo said:
On Thursday, 22 April, a group of men tried to rob a CIT vehicle on the N4 in Pretoria. The suspects fired several shots at the CIT vehicle in an attempt to stop it during a high-speed chase.
The driver of the CIT vehicle managed to evade the robbers for a while but later stopped in wait for the robbers. The robbers fled without taking any money. No arrests have yet been made.
Barry Bateman, a reporter for eNCA (eNews Channel Africa), talked to Prinsloo and Mtombeni a few days after the incident. Bateman reported that Prinsloo is a former special task force member who is currently the head instructor at Fortis Pro Active Defence Solutions, a tactical and security training company in South Africa. Mtombeni is less experienced in these situations. In fact, this robbery attempt took place on Mtombeni's fourth day on the job.
Bateman reported:
[They're] two very different people. Leo is a former SAPS special task force member. This is... South Africa's swat team. The most highly trained individuals that go into some of the most difficult situations ... He spent many years there. He's been out of the force for about 15 years but he has own fire arms training academy so he does this for a living. He trains with firearms and teaches other people how to handle difficult situations. Lloyd on the other hand, it was his fourth day on the job and the third day under the watchful eye of Leo. And he was specifically placed with him to learn the ropes.
During a brief interview, Prinsloo added:
The first time I knew they were there were when the gun shots ripped off. And instinct kicks in pretty much. When we train people we usually tell them to previsualize what they're going to do. It's a mind set. And that's pretty much what happened. I previsualized what I was going to do and to the best of my ability I just did what my mind told me to do. And it worked out for me on that day.
Here's eNCA's video report:
Yusuf Abramjee, a South African journalist and anti-crime activist, shared some photographs showing the aftermath of the robbery attempt: