MANZINI – More than E2 million was stolen during the daring overnight robbery at EswatiniBank’s Manzini branch, police have now officially confirmed.
Deputy Police Information and Communications Officer Assistant Superintendent Nosipho Mnguni confirmed yesterday that the amount stolen in the heist exceeds E2 million, following reconciliation by investigators and the bank.
The robbery unfolded late on Sunday night and into the early hours of Monday. Police say an undisclosed number of suspects ambushed a security guard at the main gate shortly after 11pm, restraining him before gaining access to the premises.
The suspects are believed to have entered the bank through a rear section of the property, avoiding surveillance cameras. Once inside, they reportedly disabled parts of the alarm system and forced entry into secured areas housing automated teller machines.
Investigators believe the robbers spent more than two hours inside the bank carefully removing cash from the ATMs without triggering security mechanisms designed to destroy banknotes.
The suspects fled the scene just before 2am using the same breach in the perimeter fence. The tied-up security guard later raised the alarm, prompting a heavy police response.
Despite the bank being located about 150 metres from the Manzini Police Station, no alarm was triggered during the robbery. Police units, including Scenes of Crime officers, sealed off the area from around 3am as investigations began.
The bank remained closed for the day as police combed the scene for evidence and reconstructed the sequence of events.
Mnguni said investigations were continuing and that police were following several leads. No arrests had been announced at the time of publication.
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