Pretoria – The hero guard, Leo Prinsloo, once served as a guard for former President Nelson Mandela, Prince Charles and even Kim Kardashian amongst high profile people, IOL has reported.
Deon Coetzee, MD of the Fortis Group said that Prinsloo has been in various security roles for more than 30 years now, with a 12 year career in the South African Police Special Task Force.
He had extensive training, including training with Abu Dhabi’s Anti-Terrorism unit.
In the SAPS Task Force, he was a head instructor of their lone operator training.
Prinsloo and Lloyd Mthombeni became a world topic when a video was shared on social media of them being shot at by robbers.
Coetzee said the two had been escorting a van that was transporting cellphones when they came under attack on the N4 freeway in Pretoria.
He said the modus operandi of criminals is to take out both the escort vehicle and the courier vehicle.
“In the video you see what was happening to the escort vehicle. Two vehicles with three criminals in each tried to take them and Leo took evasive action,” Coetzee said.
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“The guard in the passenger seat, Lloyd Mthombeni, was just four days on the job when the incident happened,” he said.
Dash cam footage of the incident was shared thousands of times and quickly went viral on social media. The public has hugely been amazed by the bravery exhibited by Prinsloo who managed to keep his cool as bullets rained on his van.
News agencies across the globe covered the incident showing Prinsloo’s daring escape from the robbers.
Death threats
Meanwhile, Prinsloo has been placed under police guard following death threats.
Coetzee said they have had to step up security around him following the threats.
