Original subtitles

You're driving on some of

the most dangerous roads in the world,

behind the wheel of an armored truck with close to

a million dollars in the back,

escorted by a team armed with high-caliber weapons,

monitored in real time from a control center,

with chopper support above you.

And yet, you feel anything but safe.

Fifteen men coming for you,

highly trained, armed with automatic weapons.

In a high-stakes game of cat and mouse.

Every time they don't surrender,

it means that you have to shoot at them?

And do they, have you killed anyone?

Welcome to the deadly world

of highway robbery.

In March of 2024,

an LAPD SWAT team came looking for a gang member

believed to be a part of the Chesapeake Bandits,

a crew that had pulled off four armored car heists.

The Chesapeake Bandits armed with

assault rifles and zip ties.

Police say Rocco,

who was killed reaching for his gun,

and his accomplices had stolen more than

half a million dollars,

part of a growing number of armored car robberies

in major American cities.

That's what caught my attention.

In a world of cryptocurrencies and artificial intelligence,

it's hard to imagine that tactics dating back to the days

of stagecoaches would be an effective way to steal money.

I want to understand how these cash heists work and

how robbers are getting away with them.

How are you?

It's been a long time?

If anyone would know, it's Playboi,

a gang member I met two years ago.

At the time, he was making good money selling weed

and untraceable guns.

So you're selling wholesale?

I'd reached out to Playboi to find

out if he knew of any other groups who have moved on to

robbing armored cars,

which is what brought me to a safe house,

20 stories above Los Angeles.

X, Spike, and Bone are L.A. gang members

who have formed their own stickup crew.

I'm gonna get contact high over here.

You're Bloods?

So what do you, what do you guys do?

When did you start doing these robberies?

You've got informants inside?

What was the most amount of money you've made on these?

The guy in the back?

So the guy that gets out with the money is

the one that's most at risk?

That's the one.

Footage from a robbery in Denver shows

it was just a matter of seconds before guards were

overpowered and money stolen.

It's empty right now, right?

Can I, can I see it?

Check it out?

So, you guys actually take AR-15s with you guys?

How do you feel about the fact that

somebody can actually get killed?

Maybe not you guys, but one of them.

There were 49 C-I-T,

or cash-in-transit, robberies in America in 2023,

the last year the FBI published data.

And overseas...

In Brazil, Australia, the UK,

and Mexico, news reports and clips shared on

social media tell a similar story.

But what's happening in a different corner of the world

is something else altogether.

In 2023,

there were 234 cash-in-transit attacks in a single country...

South Africa.

Where heist crews are locked in a deadly arms race

with security companies,

a conflict centered in the city of Johannesburg.

This is the cash processing facility,

where most of the cash that we pick up during a

daily operational system comes to be

processed and then to be banked.

Morne du Toit heads up

investigations and operations for Fidelity Security,

the largest cash-in-transit company in South Africa.

To enter this facility, I've been fingerprinted, frisked,

and had my face biometrically scanned,

then stepped through seven double-locked security doors.

So obviously, this is a very, very secure facility,

understanding the type of work

we do here and the cash volumes that we carry.

So, we've never allowed anybody from the media into

our cash centers before.

Wow, so we're the first ones here?

- You're the first ones. - Definitely.

And is this what goes into the CIT,

the locks, the safes?

So these are your little cash boxes that are utilized for

cash-in-transit.

How much cash does each of these containers hold?

It depends on the configuration of the notes.

If it's 200 rand notes,

it can go up to 250,000 rand.

That's roughly $14,000 per box,

to be put on the road as part of the $50 million transported

by CIT trucks every day.

While in Western countries, payments have gone digital,

in South Africa, cash is still king.

Here, 15% of adults are without bank accounts,

and so the circulation of cash is critical to

the country's economy.

Everything is controlled through processes

and secured bags and sealed bags.

It's brought to the counting-house.

It goes into a secure cage where it gets

unbroken under surveillance.

It gets processed and counted, it gets resealed again,

placed in secure vaults, and then moved to the banks.

It seems that the money is very secure inside.

The problem happens once the money is out of the center.

Yes.

There's been nearly one

cash-in-transit attack per day in South Africa in 2024.

Most of them connected to the

country's highly organized crime groups.

Last year, while reporting on

South Africa's assassins.

And how many people do you think you've killed?

I made contacts in the underworld,

contacts I've leaned on to gain access to an active

team of robbers.

Mariana. Shall we follow you?

But this is the outskirts of Johannesburg,

sort of an impoverished neighborhood.

The roads are so bad here that our windshield just cracked

on the way here.

We're following the guy that we're gonna meet.

He's taking us to a safe place.

How many cash-in-transit robberies have you done so far,

you think?

So You want me to call you...?

Buster? Buster.

I was told before I got here that you are sort of the boss.

You're the one who gets, gets the other guys to work with you.

In South Africa,

every member of a heist crew has a specific role to play.

And as a general in this world, it is Buster's job to assemble

a team and put a plan in motion.

How many people in your group?

Seventeen?

Is that normal?

How many cash-in-transit robberies have you done so far,

you think?

Like, more than 10, 20?

That's a lot of cash-in-transits.

How much money on average, do you make per robbery?

Is it safe to say that you've made over two million?

Over five million?

Careful, guys. Get away.

- Yes. - Over five million rand?

That's nearly a quarter million dollars

in a country where the average salary is under

$20,000 per year.

Such high stakes have set up an escalating war between

security companies and heist groups.

With seemingly endless resources, firepower,

and legal authority, security forces should

have the advantage.

But over the course of years,

heist crews here have developed a playbook

to tilt the odds in their favor.

Is it hard to do cash-in-transit robberies?

They work at the company that does the transportation?

And they tell you,"

This car is gonna leave here with this amount of money?"

- The car you're driving? - Yes.

The surveillance team consists of

two to three men who study the route of an armored car,

count the number of vehicles and guards that accompany it,

and pinpoints a location where it can be ambushed.

And then you assemble your team?

When was the last time you did one of these robberies?

Are you planning another...

Of these robberies? You are?

Do you think there's a chance I could meet some of

the other people in your crew?

Could you try?

While Buster checks with his people,

I'm heading to see what's happening on the other side.

Wow.

This place is like a fortress.

One thing is clear, if this is a cat-and-mouse game,

neither side sees itself as the mouse.

One!

One, two, three, one!

At Fidelity's training center

outside of Johannesburg,

a group akin to a private army is preparing for battle.

Here, drivers pass through boot camp.

One!

Pilots flying through drills...

...and fast reaction teams engage in exercises.

Training to repel the exact type

of attack Buster's team is preparing to execute.

We're going to simulate a cash-in-transit heist for

people that's in distress.

And, you know, one guy's gonna get shot in the leg and

then we got two vehicles that's going to

come and extract them from...

So it's a simulation of an, a heist?

It's a simulation, of an attack.

- And live rounds? - Live ammunition.

All right.

I'm nervous about this.

Next one, next one!

In this drill,

a CIT truck has already come under fire,

and the driver has been shot in the leg.

Enter Fidelity's rapid reaction team on a mission to

outgun the robbers, extract their colleague,

and safeguard the cash.

Let's go! Yes! Yes!

Holy! That was intense.

- Amazing? - That's incredible, wow.

How many shots were fired?

About 500 rounds.

And how often do you do the simulation?

Every second week.

In many ways,

this training can be seen as a response to the

violent crime that runs rampant throughout South Africa.

And as this social media footage captured...

...the inability of the country's police force

to stop it.

Police here are underfunded,

overwhelmed, and riddled with corruption,

so security companies have filled the vacuum with

2.7 million private licensed officers,

a number that has nearly doubled in the last 10 years.

So life in South Africa from a criminal side is not worth much.

You won't think twice to take a life to get to what you

have to get to.

How do you feel about that?

The fact that you're losing lives?

So it infuriates me.

And you've got a criminal element out there

that can take a life at any moment.

For them it's a job,

they do it every single day.

Just like we try to counter it every day with

all our technology,

our control rooms, our helicopters, our everything.

This fleet of helicopters

has been an expensive,

yet necessary addition for Fidelity,

allowing the company to locate and pursue robbers

when they flee the scene.

But the primary line of defense is on the ground.

All outside!

Drivers begin their career with

six weeks of coursework and militarized training.

- Attention! - One!

Hardening them to become the first line

of defense against an attack.

One!

If these recruits make it past training,

they can expect to earn about $1,000 a month,

a respectable wage for a blue collar job in South Africa.

But there's a catch.

13 cash-in-transit robberies in the past few days,

22 security officers killed, over 120 officers injured.

In the face of overwhelming power,

most CIT drivers put their hands up and comply

with their attackers.

According to Fidelity, this is what they're trained to do,

but some decide to fight back.

For the past 32 years,

Dolf has been driving a CIT truck,

making him a moving target for highwaymen.

Were you ever attacked?

- 14 times. - 14 times?

14 times. Last year was the 14th time.

When they were here next to this window,

they would start shooting.

They shoot from the front.

They shoot from the side.

Footage of that attack was captured by

mounted cameras on the truck.

So they shoot right through this window.

They shoot me in the head.

I just feel it's bleeding and it was burning.

And I press my finger in like this and then I

realized they shot me.

It was going through my mind, maybe,

maybe I can saw some of them,

I can shoot some of them.

So I open the shooting hole, put the gun there.

I shoot him.

So when I shoot him, he's down.

You killed him?

I'm sorry you had to go through that.

The gunmen took off, leaving the money behind.

Dolf was rescued by a team of security officers and

airlifted to a hospital.

It's, it's hard to believe that it's been eight months only and

that you're back to such a dangerous job.

Why do you do it?

Because for the last 32 years,

it's the only job I know.

There's no other work.

Especially in South Africa, there's no other work.

Do you think that the, the robbers are getting better

at what they do?

They are.

Because they're using, nowadays, they use military weapons.

And the weapon also, they shoot through this glass,

it must be military, military weapon.

Military weapons have become

plentiful and cheap on the black market in South Africa.

And so as robbers have upgraded their arsenals,

security companies have fought back with technology,

betting the lives of their drivers on two inches of glass.

Brilliant. Finger off the trigger.

At a cost of nearly $1,000 per panel,

CIT companies are investing heavily in technology like

bullet block windows made of glass, polycarbonate,

and adhesive film.

So you can see now obviously the glass is still intact.

It is. That's incredible.

How many rounds did you shoot?

35.

35 rounds and it's still totally intact.

This glass is the latest in a long line of specialized

products deployed globally by security companies,

including exploding dye-packs that stain money,

nozzles that spray glue,

turning cash stacks into bricks,

and this, a specialized foam that quickly expands and

hardens when activated, effectively freezing

money in place.

Despite these advances, often the most effective tool

to combat these attacks is not technology at all

but information.

You have informants on the criminal side?

Yes, yes, yes, yes.

We've created a network to try and stay ahead with

regards to information of robberies.

And how important has that been, effective?

It's been very, very effective.

On this one point,

even criminals agree.

What is the biggest threat for you guys?

Impimpi?

That's what they call informants here?

How do you deal with it?

You mean kill him?

You've killed people who've tipped off the police?

For obvious reasons,

finding an informant who will talk to us has

proven almost impossible.

Almost.

Here, in an isolated location outside of Johannesburg,

it's about to happen.

Peter, thank you so much for meeting us here tonight.

I know you've come from afar.

So, tell me, what crime are you informing on right now?

Is it hard to infiltrate those groups?

So if you know, if you're on the inside and you,

you have information of heists that's going down,

at what point do you tell?

So you only trust one person to give that information to?

What would happen to you if they found out that

you were informing?

They'll just shoot you.

Well, if it is that risky that you could end up dead,

why do you do what you do?

I am doing it for my living.

So how, how much, more or less, do you make?

So $1,000.

That's not a lot of money for somebody who's risking

their lives like you.

And, so how does police corruption play

into these heists?

Wow.

So even if somebody is inside the CIT vehicle

and saying that they're being shot at,

they're being killed and begging the police to come,

they will delay it?

So Buster, the heist boss,

has made some introductions to some of the people

in his own team,

and one of them has actually agreed to talk to us.

He's the gunman.

He's the guy that carries the weapons.

And this is really incredible access,

really rare access.

But on the other hand,

this is a very unsafe world, you know?

These guys operate very much by their own rules,

so we're not sure what we're walking into right now.

The meeting has been set up at a safe house,

where I've been joined by J.J.,

a local producer, who has agreed to translate.

- Five minutes. - You just got notice?

Five minutes.

Pepper?

It's Pepper?

- It is Pepper. - So what do you do?

What's your job in the heist business?

If This was a Hollywood film,

Pepper would be known as the muscle of the operation.

In South Africa, he's simply the gunman.

There's no bullets inside?

So this is an AK-47?

Is that the one you use when you go on the heists?

Where, where is the R5 that you usually use?

Do you have it at home?

No, it's not...

No, it's not mine.

I go and hire it if there is a need for a job.

You rent it?

How much does it cost to rent it?

So it's about $1,000, $150?

How many weapons do you need for each of your heists?

Handguns?

Up to eight vehicles will typically

be stolen for a single heist,

including a heavy German car,

pickup trucks to block traffic and move gunmen,

and sports cars for a quick getaway.

- So this is a ram car? - Correct.

Why a Mercedes-Benz?

So You're on each side of the

truck with your guns pointed towards them.

And if the driver has a gun too, what happens?

You're gonna shoot the driver?

Then these ones come and wait for this thing to open

at the back.

'Cause usually there are security guards in the

back of the truck too.

And they come out.

So does that mean that every time they don't surrender,

it means that you're shooting at them?

You have to shoot at them?

And do they, do, have you killed anyone?

You have killed somebody?

He understands what I'm asking, right?

How many times have you actually killed people?

Three times? Three people?

Do you have a family? Do you have children?

How many?

When you killed those security drivers,

did you feel bad knowing that,

that they might have children as well?

But they were just doing their jobs,

right, they were just driving their car, that car.

They were just doing their job.

How, when was the last one you did?

Four weeks ago?

How much money did you make, did you personally make?

So, so you made 90,000 rand?

So $5,000?

Is that, is that good money?

Our aim is not to take all the money.

So we just take some, which is enough for us.

Then the other, we,

we leave and we throw it around the truck,

so that on our way out, the community can come and

get money to confuse and slow down the police.

It's a clever tactic,

one that sells a Robin Hood narrative to the community.

Taking away from the rich and giving it to the poor?

While effectively shutting down roads

to wade an escape.

To counter this,

security companies have invested in air support.

And what have the robbers done to counter air support?

Do you guys have a strategy for when

there is a helicopter?

I have the rifle. I have to fire at the chopper.

Because when I do that, then it goes away.

Does it reach the helicopter?

Is it strong enough?

But that kind of chaos is a drop

in the bucket compared to the latest innovation

by heist crews.

Fifteen years ago,

in response to a rash of armed truck robberies,

many South African money trucks began to be fitted

with onboard safes that had to be remotely opened

from a control center.

But as these clips on social media show,

they inadvertently ushered in an age of carnage.

When crime syndicates found themselves unable

to force drivers to open the safes,

they came up with a new method to get the cash.

High-powered explosives.

The communities are terrorized.

Holy!

Hey, hey, hey!

Like San Francisco back in the 1800s,

the city of Johannesburg began as a gold rush town.

Now, as the number of gold mines proliferated,

so too did the need for dynamite.

Today, with plenty of mining

operations still nearby,

it's not hard to source black market explosives.

But getting an underground demolition man to talk

hasn't been easy.

What about the explosives guy?

Do you think we could meet the explosives guy?

Probably not? Why is bomb guy difficult?

- He will think that. - They will think it's a setup.

In the end,

both Buster and Pepper vouched for me,

which is what led me here,

for a face-to-face meeting with the most elusive

and rare member of any heist crew.

The bomber.

Super?

That's what you want me to call you?

Why Super?

You are the explosives guy?

You are the explosives guy?

So you are the one who explodes the vans?

And how did you learn?

So when the team arrives at the CIT heist,

at the heist.

Do you carry a gun?

Seven minutes?

So you time it to avoid the

helicopter seeing the cars?

So imagine this is the back of the car, of the truck...

There's doors here, right?

Prior to the heist,

Super will have prepared up to eight different explosives,

then, once he's inside the truck,

he'll make a split second decision about which

one is best for the job.

So once you place the explosives, what happens?

You're trying to have enough explosives to open it up,

but not too many that it would damage the cash inside.

Is it getting harder and harder to open up the safes

with the explosives?

You don't think they're getting better at protecting the money?

When were you planning on buying your next explosives?

Are you going to buy them anytime soon that we

could see them?

So that might mean that you're planning a

heist in the next two days.

Super wouldn't share details on his upcoming job,

but he did agree to meet up later in the day,

after buying the explosives.

So this is the guy that sells it to you?

And he's the guy that works at the mines?

Wow. So that's the explosive right there?

Wait. Is it that bag over there?

Can I see it?

Wow.

Wow. So this is it?

Should I be afraid?

Is it

Are they going to explode?

Sure?

So this is it?

So this is packed with explosives right there?

So you light this side here.

And then you have the extent of this wire,

while it's burning,

that's the time that you have to run away.

And all of this costs what? How much?

So in total, you spent about $30-$35,

and you get all the explosives you need.

Can you open it? Can I see what's inside?

It smells really strong,

it smells like petrol almost, right?

So if the police shows up now, for example,

or sees you in the car with this, what would happen?

You just give them money?

That's $500 to $800.

Do you get to keep the explosives,

or they take it with them?

So you pay them a little cash, and that's it?

From modest beginnings,

the escalation in this arms race has gone sky high.

South Africa's security forces created cash centers to

minimize bank robberies so the robbers set their sights

on CIT trucks instead of banks.

Security companies then militarized to outgun robbers

and robbers militarized to outgun security.

CIT companies recruited a secretive network of informants,

heist crews did their best to identify and assassinate.

Companies put helicopters in the skies,

and robbers put crosshairs on those helicopters to

chase them away.

And finally, hoping high tech would give them a leg up,

security companies installed remote locks on

the safes in armored cars.

And robbers put bombs on those armored cars to

bypass the remote locks.

And so what comes next for security companies?

The dream of a bombproof truck.

So inside that is the safe, right?

- Correct. - Yes.

What they do is they use this emulsion cartridge.

So this is similar to the explosives that the robbers use?

Exactly. That's the one.

In three, two, one.

My God.

There are 3,000 of these vehicles still in operation.

They used to take cutting torches, but of course,

they got smart,

and now they're using explosives.

Armored truck bombings have

created a financial sinkhole for CIT companies,

which have to self-insure much of the cash they carry,

as well as replace destroyed trucks at a cost

of roughly 100-grand each.

On the flip side, they have created a steady stream of

business for truck makers like the company led by Nadine.

Twice a year,

her research department bombs its own CIT trucks and

studies how best to harden future models.

Now you see it...

...Now you don't.

My God.

That was insane.

Is this what it looks like out on the streets, as well,

when they explode it?

It does. Yes. Yes, it does. yes.

My God. Holy smokes.

Look at that.

You could feel the explosion when we were

protected inside the bunker, but you could really feel it.

You'd understand why the people inside would want

to exit the vehicle if they start

threatening it with explosives.

Wow and that's the safe door right here.

Online footage shows how for security officers

who survive a heist,

the chaos doesn't end with the burning remains of a truck.

It can also devolve into a scene like this,

guards fighting to defend what's left of the

truck and its contents, while locals come running.

It can get violent.

Very violent.

But what if it could be prevented?

The carnage, the financial loss,

the arms race with a new kind of cash in transit truck?

One that borrows heavily from vehicles deployed to war zones?

At Nadine's company, which she prefers not to name,

those next generation trucks are

rolling off the assembly line,

destined to carry cash for Fidelity.

So we started with the development in late 2022.

And last year, we started with manufacturing.

Is the steel bulletproof?

So the steel is armored steel.

So it's, obviously, bulletproof and bombproof.

And the glass is also armored glass.

So if the robbers were to bomb this,

this vehicle, what happens?

So armored steel, if you construct it in the

right way, when it explodes, it doesn't shatter.

So if that's the case,

what do you think, because the bombing,

the explosive use was an evolution

from the criminal side, what do you think is going

to happen now in terms of the evolution

on the criminal side?

Well, let's see, anything's possible.

They're extremely creative.

For now, that creativity has given the

robbers the advantage.

So who do you think is winning, the robbers or the.

Do you think the robbers will keep on winning?

So, what do you think needs to happen for this to stop?

It's a common refrain.

So you said it's government money, is that how you feel,

like this is government money?

Back in LA, X, Spike, and Bone

blame economic conditions, as well.

They say they are moving forward with plans

for new robberies,

joining the ranks of crews in Texas...

Police say three suspects stole money

from an armored Brinks truck.

...North Carolina...

More than a quarter million in cash was taken.

...and Pennsylvania.

Making off with hundreds of

thousands of dollars.

Maybe we shouldn't be surprised.

A three-man crew pulled this off in the

middle of the day in a busy plaza.

People will steal just about

anything to make money.

They'll steal cars to make money,

they'll steal jewelry, they'll even steal identities.

So you better believe, if they get the chance,

they'll steal money to make money.

It's as simple and ugly as that.