Hayibo.com - Piggy-bank blasts increase as ATM bombers settle down, start families

Piggy-bank blasts increase as ATM bombers settle down, start families

PRETORIA. Police say they have seen a dramatic increase in the number of piggy-banks blown up, with upward of 20 heists a week reported in day-care centres in Gauteng. "A lot of ATM bombers are settling down and starting families," said a spokesman. "Armed robbery is a growth industry in this country, so it's natural they're encouraging their kids to learn the trade."

ATM bombings have dominated headlines in recent weeks, with 270 blown up by criminals and 183 blown up by irate bank customers after having their debit cards swallowed.

However police say the spate of piggy-bank blasts is a new phenomenon that reflects the newfound financial security of South African criminals.

"More and more former ATM bombers are investing their earnings in quiet, middle-class lifestyles," said police spokesman Capt. Buksie Grensvegter.

"They're settling down, buying a home in the suburbs, having kids, and obviously passing on their skills to the next generation."

Estate agent Debbi Remora confirmed the trend, saying that she had seen a spike in the number of clients "with a Grade 6 education, some training in either the South African or Zimbabwean military, and a suitcase full of slightly singed banknotes", looking for "somewhere leafy near a good daycare centre".

Meanwhile the police are urging day-mothers and kindergarten teachers to be on the lookout for toddlers acting suspiciously.

"That means kiddies who are moody, or are playing apart from the group, or are bringing plastic explosive to show-and-tell in their lunchboxes," said Grensvegter.

"Also, we are appealing to adult caregivers not to provoke these children by exposing them to cash or jewelry, piggy-banks, collections tins, and so on."

He said people needed to understand that the children of ATM bombers had "special needs".

"When you combine a child's natural curiosity with a general sense of entitlement and the ability to use complex detonators, you have a potentially upsetting situation," said Grensvegter.

Asked what the police were doing in the interim to curb ATM bombings, he said, "Ag, you know, the normal.

"Park under bridges, eat pepper-steak pies, pull over white female undergraduates and fine them for having too little tread on their tires. You know. Policing."