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That's A Crime
A fascinating true crime podcast dissecting everything from a misdemeanor to a murder. Hosts: Jason Connell, award-winning documentary producer & true crime junkie, & Sal Rodriguez, comedian & toy expert/collector.
That's A Crime
Driver Evades Armored Vehicle Heist (2021)
That's A Crime
Episode 25: Driver Evades Armored Vehicle Heist (2021)
Jason Connell and Sal Rodriguez break down the true crime story of the Driver Evades Armored Vehicle Heist in 2021. On April 22, 2021, Leo Prinsloo & Lloyd Mtombeni were in a heavily armored vehicle escorting millions of rand worth of merchandise in Pretoria, South Africa. Soon after they were under gunfire by two vehicles in a well-orchestrated attack. The entire incident was captured on their dashcam and has over 40 million views.
Original Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6qEee1_4fw/
Original Episode: S01E25
Recorded: 01-18-22
Studio: Just Curious Media
https://www.JustCuriousMedia.com/
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Welcome to Just curious media. This is not to crime. I'm Jason Connell.
Sal Rodriguez:And I'm Sal Rodriguez.
Jason Connell:All right, sound we are back for another crime.
Sal Rodriguez:I believe our first crime that we have the footage of it occurring. Yes.
Jason Connell:I think you are right, sir. And listen, I know what you said to me. Last episode. I didn't forget it. You wanted something a little lighter? Well, after we covered a pretty dark subject last week, sure, on our show, that's a crime. Very dark, but worth listening to watching, please, I'm glad we covered it. But I'm with you. We kind of do this on this show a little bit of this a little too much of that we zig zag we cover everything from a misdemeanor to a murder. And this is also very unique because we have footage for the entire crime.
Sal Rodriguez:Yeah, that is pretty neat. And I just had a look at the video earlier. And by the way, I had seen this video before only one of the angles. And you know what, this is action packed? It's on him. It is exciting. The lives are on the line. Absolutely. Yeah. But you see, like some skilled people at work like you see professionals at work, you know, I
Jason Connell:totally agree. And before I get into it, and even tell our fans for the name of the episode if they do not already know. Yes, a word from our sponsor. Support for that a crime is brought to you by manscaped, who is the best in men's below the waist grooming and offers precision engineered tools for your family jewels. Join over 4 million men worldwide who trust manscaped. And with this exclusive offer, you'll get
Sal Rodriguez:20% off and free worldwide shipping with the code. That's a crime@manscaped.com.
Jason Connell:Well done. And today we're breaking down the True Crime Story of the driver evades armored vehicle heist in 2021. And so you'd seen this video before this was new to me this week, because I came across it and I thought, wow, this is perfect. I was looking for something unique. We've never done this. And then I started watching all the subsequent videos because the original video I highly recommend people look this up. Yeah, over 40 million views. So this thing went viral. And then there's sideview rear view because to be also clear, it's a dashcam video of this incident that happens. So you're seeing the reactions in real time the driver, the passenger who were going to break down, get into everything. But now there's other videos with the side view the rear view you can see the other cars coming up and it's like, oh my gosh, I was just watching it with Sophia showing her and it's like it's even more dramatic to see the cars like the other footage that you hadn't seen previously. And then to see interviews of the guys it's like this is incredible. So it's cool that you had seen it but it didn't know much.
Sal Rodriguez:Yeah, only the main footage I hadn't seen all the angles. I hadn't seen any interviews I didn't know all the details the behind the scenes. Yes. So yeah, this really brings it to life. But the video itself that main video over 40 million views, action packed and riveting because yeah, you are there in the car with these guys
Jason Connell:totally. When I saw it immediately reminded me of a scene from the professional the 1994 Luke Busan Film or Ronin the 1998 John Franken our film band perhaps because the hero or in this particular crime the driver who evades the robbery reminds me of actor genre no who is in both of those great films. There's this something about this guy that's like why he Yeah, he looks the part right? Yeah, he's in training. He's got the bulletproof vest on he just looks like he's an action hero. So and that's even before he goes into action.
Sal Rodriguez:Yeah, one of those guys you would want on your team? You want by your side when when shit goes down? You want him there?
Jason Connell:Yeah, I'm behind that guy. Well, let's give this guy a name. So heroic armored vehicle driver, Leo Prinsloo. Earned worldwide fame after dashboard footage of the failed heist went viral.
Sal Rodriguez:Nice Jason failed heist failed. Hi. So this guy this guy is badass
Jason Connell:is totally badass. Now 52 year old Prinsloo is a former police sniper OOF love that 12 year veteran in the elite South African Police special task force during that time, so he was part of many high risk operations including security detail for two US presidents and the Queen of England. So this is clearly a guy you do not want to mess with.
Sal Rodriguez:Yeah, those famous words written by one of our heroes Robert Mark Heyman from what was that movie with Liam Neeson taken
Jason Connell:taken? Yes,
Sal Rodriguez:this guy is like Liam Neeson his character from taken. I have a particular set of skin heels.
Jason Connell:Yes, exactly. Yeah, he reminds me of that normal everyday guy, but he's got this whole thing. It's like when Jason Bourne realizes he has all these traits that were put inside of him. Absolutely. That's what resonated off the screen for me. So, here we are breaking it down. Now. Prinsloo is now a chief instructor for Fortis proactive defense solutions, which focuses on firearm training. Again, so total about us, as well as advanced driving courses, as their clients are in the cash and transit business or valuable asset transit business in South Africa. And although Prinsloo doesn't typically drive a vehicle, he was training a new crew member that particular day, this particular day, Lloyd m time beanie, and on this day, Sal, it's too bad for the arm thieves that Prinsloo is that the wheel?
Sal Rodriguez:Yeah, too bad for them. And also kind of funny that for prims Lu, he probably thought this is just gonna be what a basic training day let me train the new guy. Right?
Jason Connell:Exactly. Yeah. Here's how it works. We go over here we do this. Yeah, just a normal, not really mundane, because you are armed and you have precious cargo. But still, you're probably not expecting this. However, as we get into this sound guy like this. Always kind of expecting it. Yeah. Be prepared.
Sal Rodriguez:Well, because you know why? If you watch the video, you can see leading up to the action, so to speak. Well, look at him. Yeah, look, he's looking around, always aware of what's going on and checking those sideview mirrors, you know, you got to see what's on your tail. You know, what I really loved about this? Right off the bat. Okay, this took place in South Africa, right? Yes. Okay, open up a history book. Anybody if you want to learn about South Africa, this is a white guy and a black guy. together working together. prims Lu is white. M Tom Benny. Yeah, black man. I love seeing these two guys together, especially in South Africa, knowing the history, a great shot, fantastic footage.
Jason Connell:Also, am tempted to be clear, looks very young. Not that Prince looks old. But you know, there's a good difference in age. So he's like training the young guy. And we'll get into it as well. I'm Tom Brady's not as key of a role in this. However, for a guy four days on the job, also. Pretty cool. Pretty cool. Been in that car going? What? Do I want this job? It's terrifying. I'm terrified. You
Sal Rodriguez:know, I gotta hand it to these guys that do stuff like this unreal. They're willing to literally put their lives on the line. Yeah, I gotta hand it to him. I gotta hand it to him.
Jason Connell:So on April 22 2021, Prinze, Liu and M Tamburini. Were in a heavily armored Toyota Land Cruiser, and were escorting millions of Rand worth of mobile phones. Now, so to give our audience a sense of how much a Rand is worth, can you share with us how much 1 million Rand is in US dollars?
Sal Rodriguez:In US dollars, 1 million Rand is 90,000. US dollars. Okay. So it gives you some perspective. Rand is the South African dollar, is that the deal?
Jason Connell:Right? That's their currency. So you can kind of see it's almost you know, what, a 10th in that array, I'm sure it's sliding scale, it's always changing. So they don't have cash in there. They have all these mobile phones, which is worth a lot, right. So same as money that you know, they can sell it on the market, whatever. Now, due to the economic turmoil, there has been a rapid rise in armored vehicle robberies in cash and transit. They're called CIT, for short vehicles in South Africa. So that's terrifying for anyone, as you were just saying in this line of work, and perhaps good for Prince lose business.
Sal Rodriguez:Yeah. But again, who would want to take such job? I hope they pay. Well, I really do. Because you know what, let's hope when I traveled throughout the Middle East, and we had military escorts, they weren't military. These were a lot of former military who now contract third party contractors. They paid them pretty well. That was our understanding. We didn't know how much they didn't tell us. But our understanding was that these contractors who are in charge of protecting us,
Jason Connell:this is like movie Taken, because that's what they were. Yeah. Okay.
Sal Rodriguez:You know what, these guys were making pretty good money. That's what we were told.
Jason Connell:I would hope so. Sounds good benefits. good pay, because, hey, it's dangerous. Now, as they drove along, it seemed like any other ordinary day until it wasn't out of nowhere and we were just talking about this watching Prinsloo knowing what we know watching him I'm nervous like this. You see something now he's looking at his suspenseful is it now is it now No, he does anything now. But out of nowhere, a black out he pulls up and begins shooting at the vehicle. And when we say armored, it's bulletproof glass because they're popping that window and it doesn't break, but it leaves a mark. Big round mark, like how many could it sustain? Like the new Bond film? He's taking so many shots is like, I don't even know how much this can take. Yeah, they probably think that too, like, that's a lot of shots at some point as bulletproof glass is gonna give. So prince who immediately goes into military mode, and is cool, calm and collected as they go on the offensive and begins to like RAM the ad again, you can't really tell on the main video, you've got to watch the subsequent videos and subsequent angles. But he's starting to like RAM, the Audi and do things because it's a bigger Land Rover. Cruiser not Land Rover, sorry. And it's a weapon. And he knows that. By the way, this particular vehicle doesn't have gun ports because they tried to make a very low profile. Look, you don't want to like hey, look at me. I'm a Brinks truck. Sure you No. So they don't have that they can't shoot. They're really safe inside almost like this tank.
Sal Rodriguez:But yeah, like you said, there's no ports, they cannot return fire. So you have to go defensive. But then meanwhile, I like how he begins to go offensive.
Jason Connell:Exactly. Yeah, what are they gonna do? Just keep driving and taking on shots. Now you've got to flip the script, you have to get control of the situation. But I should also mention, it's not just the black Audi, there is a second vehicle. This is a very well orchestrated thing. In play. We can't tell if it's a van, a truck or an SUV, but it's a bigger white vehicle, not another Audi. And Sal, I even read you know more about Prince's interview and heard him speak. But he was saying the driver in the blackout. He was also very skilled. It wasn't some novice because He almost ran him off the road a couple of times, and that guy has his own skills. So it's like he's dealing with other professionals. This is not, you know, this is hair raising.
Sal Rodriguez:Well, it could be one of these instances where you have two former military one goes to the dark side one goes to the light. Exactly. Yeah, that could be for all we know, one of his former training members. Yeah. Could have been. It could have been these are people. You don't just watch YouTube videos and your skill. You have the skills. You learn these somewhere.
Jason Connell:Yeah, well, we do. We think we have them because we've seen
Sal Rodriguez:I've seen a few YouTube videos.
Jason Connell:So as things escalate, Prinsloo pulls a move out of the amazing car chasing from to live and die in LA, the classic 1985 William precon film and begins to drive into oncoming traffic, to lose their tail to kind of will do something unorthodox, unexpected, they're not expecting this car to fight back to try to ram them and then go to oncoming traffic. And you can see in those videos like he's dodging cars, people, then he turns it back around South and it's again like that movie. If you haven't seen that scene in a while, as he comes back around, he started saying they're gonna shoot at us. So I think some of the people in those two vehicles because it's not just two drivers, there's like six passengers with AK 47. And, and they're getting out and like starting to. So he's coming back into fire to also throw them off. I mean, it's insane. I almost wish there was another video not a dashcam or, you know, to someone else filming this thing. Yeah,
Sal Rodriguez:the main video, that's the two shot of them inside. Yeah, almost four minutes. And it's absolutely intense. And then once you get into the other angles, it looks very much like a video game. But even better or worse, because it's real.
Jason Connell:So what would you have done in this type of situation?
Sal Rodriguez:called in sick to work?
Jason Connell:Like that. Look,
Sal Rodriguez:here's the type of guy I am. I'm like, behind the scenes, I can maybe map and plan I can help strategize. Okay, and you guys get in and drive and come back later. So
Jason Connell:Prince Louis calling you Sal, which direction should I go and you're helping getting back to
Sal Rodriguez:base. That's right. Navigate as they're taking the fire, you set the drone
Jason Connell:out to capture this whole thing. And then like guide him, and I like that. Yeah, you gotta have one of those guys, you gotta have one of those.
Sal Rodriguez:I'll be there waiting for him when they return.
Jason Connell:I'll tell you more about him signaling and his cohorts his team in a minute, but we'll get to that. That's right. So when I watched other versions of the video, so it's really hard to see and I know the blackout he comes up starts firing I don't know what the big SUV or van is up to. Unless he's just there to like clip them or maybe they expect you to make a mistake, right? You come up and they take shots at you. You're gonna maybe your car can't even take the shots right boom, boom, you're dead you're gonna rack they're there to scoop and grab right?
Sal Rodriguez:What do you continue to hang on scoop and grab it if only they're probably going to kill you
Jason Connell:know, I mean, the merchandise the goods, if it's cash, the gear done, they're taking you out. That's a given the way they come up. They're not asking questions. Hey, give us that. No, you're done. But I mean, the two car thing. It's maybe for people to grab and go and also the bigger car can push that car off course. I mean, you're going to six To 570, who knows how fast they're going, if you know what you're doing, you can clip a car, send it into a spin and, and that's that so very interesting to see. But you do see him Tom Bini told by Prinsloo. You know, they're talking real fast, but he hands him a phone looks like an iPhone could be an Android. I don't know. So I'm diabetes trying to call the crew like where are they at? Or call the authorities? Sure. But sow he wasn't able to reach anybody because they used signal scramblers. Like what the heck that's like next next James Bond level like
Sal Rodriguez:what? Yeah, yeah, this is next level of crime when you go with this much artillery, with guys willing to risk. I mean, look what these guys are willing to do. I mean, this is next level crime.
Jason Connell:Well, cuz he can even pull over and say, take it. No, they're looking at you. You're in the way you're an obstacle. There's no reasoning. There's no rational thinking. Just give them what they want. Yeah, take millions of rands go crazy, but they're gonna knock you out. So. So after this two and a half minute heist, because I think the video is longer, but the heist itself is like two and a half minutes. Yeah, you
Sal Rodriguez:want because you have that suspense in the beginning, where we see prims Lu looking, and that's about a minute,
Jason Connell:exactly a little over. So you see, you know, the shots of the AK 40, sevens. And apparently 30 shots were fired, which it almost felt like more 13 struck the vehicle. Well, however, the front right tire took a shot. Now that's not armored, it may be no flat, or it can take a hit, but it's also a tire it's exposed. So with that in mind, and the heavy load because it's also, you know, this is full of a lot of mobile phones, hundreds and 1000s however many heavy load compromise tire, and not looking good for our dynamic duo at this point in time. Jason, I
Sal Rodriguez:just realized how ironic This is that they tried to reach their partners with a cell phone. And they couldn't while they're transporting cell phones,
Jason Connell:Hello, yeah. Yes, crazy. So Prinsloo, he's becoming concerned about this. And he knows that they're in a very vulnerable position. Right. So he then attempts to ram push the Audi because they're off the freeway. Now, you can't really tell on the video. But now they're in this hotel parking lot. There's pedestrians about according to his interview, and he's trying to go up and push that Audi onto those spike barriers that you see in parking garages rising, so your severe tire damage, exactly, he can flatten the tires, causing them to get out and make a run for it. And as he's trying to do that his own vehicle gets stuck on some concrete barriers of its own. You can tell like the car stops moving, he's kind of G and I saw photos of the vehicle afterwards, you can kind of see where it was standing in front. And so then you see Prinsloo open the door under a seat belt, get his rifle. Yeah. And his bulletproof vest, of course is on grabs his ar 15 rifle. Now he is a sniper cell. And he acts as the vehicle and full superhero mode. On believable I even read that he's referred to as the Chuck Norris of South Africa. And that's because he's an expert shot and never misses. This so much reminds me of not just those other movies I've already mentioned. But also Michael Mann's heat 1995 incredible film comes to mind that glorious shoot out however, they also took out a Brinks truck in that movie. Wow, check it out.
Sal Rodriguez:Did they killed the driver? That wasn't
Jason Connell:the plan, but one of their members went rogue. And then they had to and denier was not happy about it. But yeah, that happened. So it's pretty dire situation, obviously very different. But this is the real life version of that.
Sal Rodriguez:Well, I'd like to know if the assailants. I mean, obviously in situations like this, there was some sort of tip off some sort of inside job maybe, maybe, but did they know who was driving that day? Well, that's
Jason Connell:a good question. Once they figure it out, it's like, call it off. Let's try this. This is Prinsloo we're talking about here. Well, apparently Prinsloo had seen the driver in the Audi run from the car and that's when he decided to get out of the vehicle, get his rifle. So all the other people were out he sees the driver exit and he was gonna go out there and like set his scope on that guy but decided it was not a shootable target because it was in a public place. And the guy ran across the street jumped in the car and he was gone. So he got away and Prince was mad. He was ready to take revenge on these guys.
Sal Rodriguez:No, but this guy is pro Jason. Do you know the real story. Recent story some guy goes nuts in a Burlington store. Not too far from where I haven't heard it. Okay, guy goes nuts starts attacking people in Burlington store. Some people leave some people hide. cops arrive. They see the suspect. Yeah, they shoot him not realizing that behind him is a dressing room where there is a customer in there seeking shelter. She is killed. So these guys go in there guns blazing and liquid happens. Look what this guy does. This guy's Pro can you do some classes for the LAPD, please?
Jason Connell:Yeah, you're right. I didn't know that story. And that's very sad to hear. I did not know that. But yeah, he probably said not a good thing. shots off, no shot, no shot. And meanwhile, like I quickly mentioned, but there's two drivers. There's six passengers. Both drivers get away. six passengers were on the highway sell ak 40 sevens in hand, and somehow grabbed rides and escaped. Now. I'm unclear on this. Were they other people in their party? Or were they just commandeering vehicles appointing these ak 40 sevens and jumping in cars or taking that like that's a whole other thing?
Sal Rodriguez:No, you know what I thought about Jason, I've considered this in relation to our current era. And I believe that the time has come for an Uber but for getaway cars. That's it.
Jason Connell:That's what he did in Drive. Great movie, by the way, he was a driver and he's gonna get you a caravan and ask what you do. He'll give you five minutes. And he's gonna get you out of danger, right? Yeah. Well in an Uber driver, but he was a driver for like that. I'm gonna check that out. Yeah, Ryan Gosling. Incredible film. So pandemonium, here's the highway imagine is driving along one day and then it's like, What the What's this blackout issue that this car and then the Land Cruisers coming at you and then these ak 47 assailants are everywhere, insane style, but as for the cargo, and our two heroes Prinsloo and Emtansine. They're safe and sound. And it was the incredible driving and insight and just skill set of Prinsloo. And since this video footage went viral, he has been in high demand with countless interviews. As you can imagine, I hope sales are up for their business. You know, hey, these guys know how to help the cash and transit business. I even read Sal a sidebar to this that once he got all this press, he got death threats. Oh, and I don't know if it was
Sal Rodriguez:because because the assailants were never captured forever captured. Oh,
Jason Connell:so then he had to kind of go and this is early on. I haven't heard this lately, but he was kind of in seclusion and hiding, right, not so visible at the moment. But then this is last year, so I'm not sure where that stands. But I wrote down some things here for us to take a few of Prinze Lou's words of wisdom from his interviews because I think we could all learn from some of this and why don't you take some of these.
Sal Rodriguez:Before we started the drive, I had a talk with my crew passenger Lloyd, who only started with the company four days prior. I told him the courses of action that I plan to take if we got hit, like trying to ram them off the road. Our armor Toyota Land Rover was going to be both our weapon and our cover. And he continues. Unfortunately, the criminals in our country are well informed. And both former and current police and military have been arrested in connection with the bad guys. The modus operandi for the jackers is to come from behind an open fire on the guards, no warning, they want to obstruct the windows. And if possible, take out the crew so that they can get the vehicle easily. They come ready to kill. And the justice system isn't any kind of deterrent. Whoa, that's heavy.
Jason Connell:There's a lot to unpack there. First of all, he had Lloyd ready in time beanie, that day was already setting the stage for what could happen, the escape plan. This guy is thorough, and damned if it didn't come true. And then as you pointed out earlier, you've got ex police ex military switch sides. They know how the system works. They know they can get away with it. And they know they can knock these guys off. That's unbelievable. So
Sal Rodriguez:yeah, lots of corruption. Like just like in Mexico. We've heard so many stories. You go to Mexico, they pull you over give them cash, they let you go. I mean, that's just on the payola side. Exactly. But otherwise, yeah, there's a lot of double agents working both sides have a lot of corruption.
Jason Connell:And this is the last thing I wrote down from his interviews, principles interviews. He says there's nothing that really can prepare you 100% For a situation like that. The first time I knew they were there was when the gunshots went off. Despite all the looking Sal he still didn't know until he really heard it sure and felt it and saw it. Instinct kicks in. When we try People, we usually tell them to pre visualize what they're going to do. It's a mindset. And that's pretty much what happened. I pre visualized what I was going to do. And to the best of my ability, I did what my mind told me to do. And it worked out for me on that day. Well, very humble. But I love the mindset. I take this into sports. Really? I mean, it's not as dangerous, obviously. But I do I try to think about the outcome. How am I going to perform what will I do in each situation? And honestly, it puts you in the space for success. Not always, but for the most part, yes. And I totally get it here. This the stakes are higher. I mean, literally, you're, you're working with a target on your back, and they're coming shooting, they're not coming in saying, hey, it's a stick up. That's not what happens here.
Sal Rodriguez:No, no. And I'm absolutely just curious if M Tom Benny continued working, or was he like, that's it new line of work from it, you
Jason Connell:would think that but he had been trained on firearms, that was only his fourth day during the transit stuff, but he was also in some of the interviews and very soft spoken, but if anything, maybe he's just more determined to do it. Again. I don't know. I didn't do a follow up. But they were both in some of the interviews. And then Prince was obviously the hero here.
Sal Rodriguez:Yeah, yeah. Well, you know what, these guys are badass at props and shout out to these guys. Especially prims Lu. Wow. Yeah, these are the guys you want on your team. These are the real badass is that they make the action heroes after they pattern them after real life guys like this?
Jason Connell:Absolutely. Absolutely. So that's it. That covers the driver evades armored vehicle heist in 2021. Great episode. Hope you enjoyed it, Sal, you'd seen the video but now you got the information and learn all about Prinsloo and I'm Tom beanie, and highly recommend anyone and everyone to check out those videos. I mean, one's got 40 million now there's so many more than maybe when you saw it like people have reenacted it, but I just watched the stuff that was fitting for our crime today, but lots there to unpack, and it was a lot of fun to cover.
Sal Rodriguez:Yeah, that was a good time. And yeah, those videos are a ride.
Jason Connell:So unlock your confidence. And always use the right tools for the job with manscaped
Sal Rodriguez:and get 20% off and free worldwide shipping with the code. That's a crime@manscaped.com
Jason Connell:Thank you so much for listening and please be sure to subscribe to the that's a crime podcast as well as the that's a crime YouTube Live Channel. You can also really help us by giving the show a five star rating on Apple podcast.
Sal Rodriguez:And for all your listeners that enjoy sharing your thoughts. You can leave us a review on Apple podcasts, send us a direct message or post a comment on any that's a crime social media platform.
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