Mvela pays up for airport heist

Johannesburg - After about $10m in cash, as well as diamonds, were stolen under its watch in 2001 as a security services provider at OR Tambo International Airport, Mvelaphanda Group (Mvela) managed to put the issue to bed by paying a R1m settlement.

During an armed robbery in December that year, a group of men used a single 9mm pistol to hold up three of Mvela's Protea Aviation Security guards at the airport. They took foreign currency, diamonds and other valuable goods.

The cash, freighted to South Africa by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, was destined for Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The guards were busy locking the goods at an airport vault when the robbery took place.

"During the current financial period the dispute has been resolved in an out-of-court settlement, of which the monetary payment made by the group was approximately R1m," Mvela told investors in its latest annual report. It did not specify whether it accepted liability for the loss, or to whom the settlement was paid.

The diamonds were to have been delivered to diamond exporter Ram International. At the time, Ram International slammed the robbery as "without question" an inside job.

"As soon as the guards started to open the cargo, one of them picked up a cellphone and a minute later the robbers arrived," said Graeme Lazarus, then the MD of Ram International.

"It [the robbery] was too smooth and too simple. One 9mm gun was used to overpower the three guards. They even got them to help offload the goods into their truck. They didn't take their weapons away from them. It's a joke."

- Fin24.com