Two cash in transit suspects have been sentenced to four years behind bars each after they carried out a heist using a fake gun.
Senzo Ponoyi, 28 and Nkosiphendule Khanyana, 35, were sentenced to four years each for the robbery.
The proceedings took place at the Bellville Regional Court this week.
Captain Philani Nkwalase, of the Directorate for Priority Crime, The Hawk says in 2016 Ponoyi and Khanyana, 35, attacked a G4S security guard at the Parow Shopping Centre who had just collected money from the mall.
The security guard pointed his firearm at the suspects who ran away with the money box filled with cash.
Nkwalase explains the dom skelms dropped the box causing it to explode and were caught the same day with a fake gun: "During their getaway, they dropped the cash box after it exploded.
The local police were alerted and managed to arrest the two in possession of a toy gun not far from the crime scene.
"The docket was transferred to the Hawks Serious Organised Investigation who successfully opposed the two bail attempts since May 2016."
Nkwalase says the men were found guilty of robbery with aggravating circumstances on 27 November 2018.
The men who had been awaiting trial three years were sentenced to eight years each behind bars but were slapped with four instead because of the period they spent behind bars.