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The Star:
Airport shootout
September 17, 2004
By Gill Gifford, Lee Rondganger, Kevin Ritchie and Baldwin Ndaba
Another security blunder closed down Johannesburg International Airport last night.
In a daring attack on the airport apron, armed robbers ambushed police and security personnel who were escorting valuable cargo to a KLM Asia jumbo jet which had just arrived from the Netherlands.
The robbers, according to eye-witnesses, then jumped into a white bakkie parked nearby and drove out of the airport grounds without being stopped.
The heist caused a two-hour shutdown and disrupted travel arrangements of hundreds of people.
According to police spokesperson Superintendent Eugene Opperman, the incident took place just before 9pm.
The plane was due to depart at around 11.30pm, sources on the ground said last night.
It is understood that the cargo was a load of gold and diamonds.
“Five men appeared and started firing at security personnel and police, injuring three of our guys. Two of them are in a serious condition this morning and one is now stable,” Opperman said.
Police have declined to say how many people were involved in the escort as this was a security issue.
Workers at the airport told The Star that the gang had driven into the area where the drama occurred - a heavily fortified part of the airport - in a white bakkie. They were armed with automatic rifles. It was not known how they had managed to gain access.
Opperman said that how they had managed to get in and out again was a central part of the investigation.
When The Star visited the airport, police had cordoned off the plane and at least eight yellow cones had been placed in areas where spent cartridges had been found.
There were reports that the plane had been damaged in the shootout, but The Star could not confirm this last night.
The incident took place at the “air side” of the airport, which is the restricted area where the international aprons are situated and where the planes are parked.
Airports Company of South Africa (ACSA) spokesperson Jacqui O’Sullivan said: “The airport was temporarily closed to allow for police and safety investigations.
“There were no landings or take-offs for two hours, and the airstrips were re-opened at 11.15pm.”
O’Sullivan said five domestic flights had been diverted during that time and two international carriers had been delayed overnight, with passengers having to be accommodated in airport hotels.
The hundreds of passengers involved - from a full KLM flight to Amsterdam and a flight to Mauritius - were all to depart later today.
Opperman said police investigations were continuing, and an automatic rifle had been recovered.
“We have some leads and expect some arrests soon,” he said.
Detectives from the North Rand SAPS Serious and Violent Crime Investigation Unit were now in charge of the investigation.
This was the latest in a series of security breaches at the airport.
The most serious occurred in December 2001 when armed robbers fled with about R9,5-million in dollars, about R1,2-million
worth of diamonds and R96 400 worth of jewellery from a cargo depot at the airport.
The cash had been destined for Kinshasa and Luanda. The diamonds and jewellery, a consignment sent from Israel to Johannesburg via Amsterdam, were to be delivered to Ram International, South Africa’s biggest diamond exporter.
Three weeks before that incident, ACSA had fired Khuselani Security - the largest security company of four patrolling the grounds - and hired a new one.
In September 2001, a 35-year-old cargo agent was shot dead in a failed robbery at the airport.
Three armed men attempted to rob a security company van that was parked outside the airport’s apron after collecting a “substantial” sum of money from a Lufthansa plane.
And this Wednesday night, a policeman was seriously injured after a police patrol challenged a suspicious man they found on the perimeter of the airport.
As they were about to take him to the police station, a group of men drove up and began firing at the patrol with automatic weapons.
In the ensuing melee, the first suspect escaped along with the gunmen.
Less than a fortnight before, four armed men brazenly held up the Spur restaurant on the first floor of the Domestic Terminal.
This occurred at about 10pm on Sunday September 5.
The robbers then left the premises, apparently in full public view and past a manned armed police post.
At no stage were they challenged by police or airport security, and they remain at large.
The heist was hushed up for almost a week until the Saturday Star began investigating and broke the story last Saturday.
Ironically, ACSA had publicly declared only weeks before the Spur armed robbery that it had installed 1 200 surveillance cameras and spent about R53-million on upgrading and replacing fences, barriers and access control gates.
It said it would spend another R60-million on further upgrading airport security measures.
Security at the airport was tight this morning with heavily armed police officers and members of the Ekurhuleni Metro Police on duty outside the domestic and international arrivals.
Two security guards said heavily armed police had been deployed to the area where the attempted heist took place.
Airport shootout
September 17, 2004
By Gill Gifford, Lee Rondganger, Kevin Ritchie and Baldwin Ndaba
Another security blunder closed down Johannesburg International Airport last night.
In a daring attack on the airport apron, armed robbers ambushed police and security personnel who were escorting valuable cargo to a KLM Asia jumbo jet which had just arrived from the Netherlands.
The robbers, according to eye-witnesses, then jumped into a white bakkie parked nearby and drove out of the airport grounds without being stopped.
The heist caused a two-hour shutdown and disrupted travel arrangements of hundreds of people.
According to police spokesperson Superintendent Eugene Opperman, the incident took place just before 9pm.
The plane was due to depart at around 11.30pm, sources on the ground said last night.
It is understood that the cargo was a load of gold and diamonds.
“Five men appeared and started firing at security personnel and police, injuring three of our guys. Two of them are in a serious condition this morning and one is now stable,” Opperman said.
Police have declined to say how many people were involved in the escort as this was a security issue.
Workers at the airport told The Star that the gang had driven into the area where the drama occurred - a heavily fortified part of the airport - in a white bakkie. They were armed with automatic rifles. It was not known how they had managed to gain access.
Opperman said that how they had managed to get in and out again was a central part of the investigation.
When The Star visited the airport, police had cordoned off the plane and at least eight yellow cones had been placed in areas where spent cartridges had been found.
There were reports that the plane had been damaged in the shootout, but The Star could not confirm this last night.
The incident took place at the “air side” of the airport, which is the restricted area where the international aprons are situated and where the planes are parked.
Airports Company of South Africa (ACSA) spokesperson Jacqui O’Sullivan said: “The airport was temporarily closed to allow for police and safety investigations.
“There were no landings or take-offs for two hours, and the airstrips were re-opened at 11.15pm.”
O’Sullivan said five domestic flights had been diverted during that time and two international carriers had been delayed overnight, with passengers having to be accommodated in airport hotels.
The hundreds of passengers involved - from a full KLM flight to Amsterdam and a flight to Mauritius - were all to depart later today.
Opperman said police investigations were continuing, and an automatic rifle had been recovered.
“We have some leads and expect some arrests soon,” he said.
Detectives from the North Rand SAPS Serious and Violent Crime Investigation Unit were now in charge of the investigation.
This was the latest in a series of security breaches at the airport.
The most serious occurred in December 2001 when armed robbers fled with about R9,5-million in dollars, about R1,2-million
worth of diamonds and R96 400 worth of jewellery from a cargo depot at the airport.
The cash had been destined for Kinshasa and Luanda. The diamonds and jewellery, a consignment sent from Israel to Johannesburg via Amsterdam, were to be delivered to Ram International, South Africa’s biggest diamond exporter.
Three weeks before that incident, ACSA had fired Khuselani Security - the largest security company of four patrolling the grounds - and hired a new one.
In September 2001, a 35-year-old cargo agent was shot dead in a failed robbery at the airport.
Three armed men attempted to rob a security company van that was parked outside the airport’s apron after collecting a “substantial” sum of money from a Lufthansa plane.
And this Wednesday night, a policeman was seriously injured after a police patrol challenged a suspicious man they found on the perimeter of the airport.
As they were about to take him to the police station, a group of men drove up and began firing at the patrol with automatic weapons.
In the ensuing melee, the first suspect escaped along with the gunmen.
Less than a fortnight before, four armed men brazenly held up the Spur restaurant on the first floor of the Domestic Terminal.
This occurred at about 10pm on Sunday September 5.
The robbers then left the premises, apparently in full public view and past a manned armed police post.
At no stage were they challenged by police or airport security, and they remain at large.
The heist was hushed up for almost a week until the Saturday Star began investigating and broke the story last Saturday.
Ironically, ACSA had publicly declared only weeks before the Spur armed robbery that it had installed 1 200 surveillance cameras and spent about R53-million on upgrading and replacing fences, barriers and access control gates.
It said it would spend another R60-million on further upgrading airport security measures.
Security at the airport was tight this morning with heavily armed police officers and members of the Ekurhuleni Metro Police on duty outside the domestic and international arrivals.
Two security guards said heavily armed police had been deployed to the area where the attempted heist took place.