Police shot dead five suspects after a Gqeberha cash-in-transit heist on Monday, 9 November 2026, with the Hawks saying the gang allegedly opened fire on officers during a high-speed pursuit.
According to EWN, an armed group targeted a security vehicle near a scrap metal site in the Eastern Cape city on Monday morning. Hawks spokesperson Ndiphiwe Mhlakuvana said police responded to the robbery and identified vehicles believed to have been used in the attack, before a chase and confrontation that left five suspects dead.
What happened in the Gqeberha cash-in-transit heist
The robbery took place on Kempston Road. The Hawks said the suspects allegedly opened fire on police during the high-speed pursuit that followed, and other members of the gang escaped. In a statement on the outcome of the operation, Mhlakuvana said:
The confrontation culminated in five suspects sustaining fatal gunshot wounds. Other suspects reportedly managed to flee the scene with an undisclosed amount of cash. No police officials or security guards were injured during the incident. Two firearms from the security guards were robbed. The Hawks will provide further information as the investigation progresses and verified details become available.
The Hawks, formally the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, lead cash-in-transit investigations in the province through their Serious Organised Crime Investigation unit, working alongside tactical response teams. These heists typically target armoured vehicles or guards carrying cash, and the attackers are often heavily armed.
Earlier Gqeberha cash-in-transit heist attacks
Gqeberha has seen deadly attacks on cash vans before. On Monday, 30 December 2024, Fidelity security guards were ambushed while collecting cash at a KFC outlet on Commercial Road in Sidwell, and a guard and a suspect were fatally wounded, according to Mhlakuvana. One suspect was arrested at the scene, and no cash or firearms were taken.
Eastern Cape police have also killed five suspects in a single operation before. On Monday, 29 July 2024, an SBV armoured vehicle was ambushed on the N6 near Macleantown, and the Hawks traced suspects to a homestead in Keiskammahoek, where five were fatally wounded. Three security guards were injured in the attack, and police seized cash, rifles and ammunition.
In May 2026, the Hawks’ asset forfeiture investigation unit and the National Prosecuting Authority secured a preservation order freezing more than R2.3 million linked to the 2024 case, which was at trial stage in the Makhanda High Court.
Cash-in-transit shootouts across South Africa
In Pretoria, three men suspected of cash-in-transit robbery were killed and a fourth was wounded and arrested in a shootout with police on the R80 highway on Monday, 28 September 2026. In Johannesburg, five suspected robbers were shot dead at Crown Mines on Thursday, 24 July 2025.
The fourth-quarter crime statistics, released on Friday, 22 May 2026, attributed 48.4% of cash-in-transit robberies nationally to organised crime syndicates, compared with 57.1% of carjackings and 54.8% of kidnappings. The syndicates were described as operating mainly in the country’s economic hubs.
Sources
- EWN, 5 suspected cash van robbers killed in shootout with EC police
- Briefly, Five suspects shot and killed by police after Gqeberha cash-in-transit heist
- The Citizen, WATCH: Security guard, suspect killed during failed CIT heist in Gqeberha
- News24 (PE Express), Fidelity security guard and suspect killed during failed cash-in-transit heist at KFC outlet in Gqeberha
- TimesLIVE, Five robbers shot dead, four arrested after CIT heist in Eastern Cape
- IOL, Five cash-in-transit robbers killed in dramatic shootout with Gauteng police
- Daily Dispatch, Hawks freeze more than R2.3m in EC heist case that left 5 suspects dead
- Swisher Post, South Africa murder rate falls 9.5% in Q4 crime statistics
