The Standard Bank in Krugersdorp was robbed of over R400 000, which back in 1977 was a lot of money, considering we bought our house in 1996 for R100,000.
A shop across the road from the bank was rented, they used a false name (Mr Nightingale) and an address in a Johannesburg Suburb. Mr Nightingale said he was opening a photographic studio and therefore pasted Newspapers all over the windows of the shop.
In 1977, during the Easter weekend, the Standard Bank in Krugersdorp was robbed in one of the most daring robberies in the history of South Africa. More than R400 000 was taken.
During the day, the robbers dug a tunnel to the bank, placing the soil in bags which were then removed from the premises.
What counted in their favour was that the ground was relatively soft and there were no underground cables or pipes on the route. They even installed wooden props in the tunnel, leading people to believe they had mining experience.
They did their homework very well – they knew that compressors were being used nearby, enabling them to mask any sounds they would make during the excavation – in fact, the bank turned off its trembler alarms for that very reason.
The robbers tunnelled for three months, digging 21 metres under four adjacent shops until they struck the bank’s vault, without anyone knowing about it.
During the Easter weekend, the robbers broke through, took what they wanted and disappeared. No arrests have been made to this day.
1 comment:
I believe the robbery took place on the weekend of 30th April 1977, weeks after the Easter weekend.
Maybe I should know better, because part of the loot from the bank was discovered in the first week of May at a village not far from Marken, Limpopo Province. I witnessed the removal of the safes stuffed with mint coins by SAP. My book, The Harvest Of My Times, available through Takealot.com, tells the story of what happened. Forty two years after the incident.
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