The following article was published on www.news24.com

Paintball sends thieves packing

2009-11-26 09:53

Buks Viljoen

Mbombela – A security guard who shot at ATM bombers with his paintball gun, probably contributed to the fact that the criminals were forced to flee empty-handed.

Leon Hurter of Sun Security was woken at about 02:30 on Wednesday morning by a tremor caused by an explosion at the Spar-o-Rama building in Voortrekker Street, Lydenburg.

He lives right next to this double storey building. When he heard the explosion, he ran towards the sound and opened fire on the bombers with his paintball gun.

Shootout

Meanwhile some of his colleagues also arrived. A shootout ensued until the robbers fled.

Willem Mostert, who also lives near the building, woke up with a fright from the noise, at first thinking it might have been caused by an accident.

“But the next moment, you could smell the distinctive smell of explosives hanging in the air. You know, that army smell when the bombs were exploding all around you during the Border war.”

The explosion caused damage to the building, but the safe of the Absa ATM wasn’t opened by the blast. No-one was injured by the explosion or the shootout. Apparently the robbers’ getaway cars were later found in Sabie, about 60km away.

Shortly after the Lydenburg incident, bombs were also planted at ATMs in Delmas, Tweefontein near Witbank, and Bethal. According to police spokesperson Leonard Hlathi unknown amounts were stolen from these three ATMs.

- Beeld