Bathobile Mlangeni: South Africa cops hunt female guard who vanished with R4 million

A security guard, Bathobile Mlangeni who worked at a  cash-in-transit company in SA, allegedly walked out out of the depot with a trolley containing refuse bags that had millions of Rands in them shortly before she disappeared into thin air.

Mlangeni, from Dlamini, Soweto, is wanted by the  South African police for allegedly stealing R4m from a basement at SBV Secure Solutions cash depot at the Mall of Africa on July 15 last year.

According to a source, Mlangeni, 29, who was on duty at the time of the incident, allegedly cut open two bulk cash bags with a pair of scissors before transferring the money into a number of refuse bags which she placed in a trolley and walked out of the depot.

Gauteng police spokesperson Cpt Mavela Masondo said Mlangeni was wanted in connection with the disappearance of the money while she was on duty.

“She has not reported to work since the day the money went missing,” Masondo said.

He urged members of the public to come forward should they have any information leading to her whereabouts.

The police have a warrant of arrest out for her.

According to a source who spoke with the Sowetan, Mlangeni is said to have simply strolled out of the mall with the money.

The footage shows her using a pair of scissors to open the bags and put money in the plastic bags. We don’t know how many plastics were used, but the trolley was full when she walked out of the depot.”

The source said Mlangeni’s superiors and colleagues noticed that the R4m was missing when it was supposed to be taken to its intended destination.

Her superiors are said to have been keeping tabs on Mlangeni’s family to check whether their lifestyles had changed since Mlangeni’s disappearance.

Nothing about their family’s lifestyle seems to have changed thus far.

SBV South Africa – who specialises in the transfer of physical cash amounts across the country – have apparently been betrayed by one of their own. Mlangeni was an employee at the depot in Midrand, and she used her position of trust to gain access to the motherload in July 2019. The details of her crime are astounding:

• Bathobile Mlangeni is accused of infiltrating the depot she worked at, raiding the cash reserves at SBV;
• It’s believed two cash bags were split open, and the suspect filled up bin liners with banknotes;
• Mlangeni can be seen on CCTV, exiting the depot with a trolley full of cash;
• The employee never returned to work the day after the money went missing, and she’s not been heard from since; and
• She has successfully evaded SAPS, SBV and the threat of detection for the past seven months.

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