Lawfully, police officers are supposed to protect people’s lives and property in all situations. But have you ever heard of a police officer who got bored with his job and started robbing banks during his lunch breaks just for fun?
The Unexpected Twist
This officer would choose his lunch time to rob a bank. As soon as he got his lunch break, he would quickly go rob a bank and then return to duty, acting like nothing had happened.
This crazy police officer’s name was Andre. He was part of the South African police department. He had a personality that always sought thrills. He needed constant excitement because his family life wasn’t good.
A Life of Crime
One day, while thinking about a big thrill, he decided to rob a bank during his lunch break. He took a flight from Johannesburg to Durban, rented a car after landing in Durban.
Before robbing the bank, he changed his appearance so he wouldn’t be recognized. A regular person might take time to be identified, but as a government employee, all his data was with the government. They would be the ones investigating cases, so being clever was important for this police officer.
As soon as he entered the bank, he pointed a gun at the cashier and other staff. He warned that if anyone moved, they would be shot. He handed a bag to the cashier and told him to fill it with cash. He also warned the cashier not to try to hurry.
In this robbery, he successfully took hundreds of thousands in cash and returned to Johannesburg from Durban. His first big thrill was successful, which made him extremely happy.
After robbing this bank, he couldn’t stop. He went from one bank to another, robbing more and more. He would take time off from the bank where he worked, rob another bank, and return home satisfied. At first, he was robbing banks in Durban, but then he started targeting local banks too. This meant he was now robbing banks in Johannesburg, where he was on duty.
The Downfall
Imagine how lucky he was – he would rob a local bank during his lunch break, return to duty, and then arrive at the same place a little later to investigate. He had become so skilled at bank robbery that he could hide his identity completely. No one could recognize him.
Since he was a police officer, he knew very well how bank security systems worked and what he needed to do to hide his identity. So he would rob a bank and easily escape without anyone being able to identify him.
You’ll be surprised to know that Andre’s bank robbing spree continued for three years. During this time, he robbed over 30 banks, stealing millions of rupees. For him, this was all a big thrill. But as they say, bad deeds can’t go on forever. One day, he was caught. The story of his capture is also quite strange.
During a party, he was bragging to his friend named Cor. He told him that he had robbed all the banks that had been robbed. He told Cor that he was an expert at robbing banks. Cor had previously worked for a secret investigation agency and understood the seriousness of the situation. At first, he thought Andre was just boasting, but then he decided to share this information with his officers.
What happened next was that the next time Andre went to Durban to rob a bank, the police were already there to welcome him. This time, luck wasn’t on Andre’s side, and the police caught him and sent him to jail. There, he was sentenced.
He should have tried to improve his situation after going to jail. As a police officer, he knew what was right and wrong. But he didn’t stop even in jail. There, he met two people – one named Michael and the other named Heil.
Ironically, or perhaps luckily for Andre, both Michael and Heil were also in jail for robbery cases. Now these three were planning to do something big. They became close friends, and this friendship lasted for three years. Then one day, they planned a big conspiracy to escape from jail.
Their plan was for two of them to injure themselves. The reason for injuring themselves was that when the jail authorities saw their condition, they would immediately shift them to a hospital for treatment. As soon as they were shifted to the hospital, they would attack the jail guards.
They snatched the weapons from the jail guards and also stole a doctor’s car from the hospital to escape.
After escaping, Andre and his friend Michael lived in secret for about three months. Then one day, they made full preparations to free their companion Heil from jail. They succeeded in freeing Heil from prison. Now all three were together and were planning a big thrill. They made full preparations to rob a bank.
Among the three, only Andre had experience in bank robbery. So he told Michael and Heil about his plan. Then all three decided to act on their plan. They robbed several banks one after another according to the plan.
They were robbing banks, but they changed their appearance in such a way that they looked strange – with weird mustaches, strange hair, odd glasses. They looked like clowns, but Andre knew that looking strange was very necessary to hide their identity. He taught this formula to his friends Michael and Heil too, and all three looked quite a sight.
They had become so skilled at robbing banks that they could complete any robbery within five minutes. That is, when they had to rob any bank, they set a time of five minutes. They would rob the bank within this time. It even happened that they robbed four banks in one day. Their plan was going very smoothly.
After multiple bank robberies, Andre’s gang started making headlines. On one hand, the police were worried, while on the other hand, the public started celebrating their actions, seeing them as thrilling.
Because of these incidents, the public started calling the police foolish. This was only because the police seemed to be failing to control this gang.
The Stander Gang’s Legacy
Andre, Heil, and Michael became like folk heroes for people, and they started calling them the Stander Gang.
The gang’s activities continued for several months. They lived in safe houses, robbed banks, and then easily escaped. They collected so much cash that they spent their free time in various activities.
But when you’re not earning honestly, your mind starts to come up with crazy ideas instead of good ones. That’s what started happening in Andre’s mind. He pretended to be a photographer and started photographing young girls. He would invite them to his hotel, photograph them there, and tell them he was making a project. He would abuse the girls who came to his hotel and force them to leave.
Two women who fell victim to Andre’s lust reported his actions to the police. Then he was declared South Africa’s most wanted gang, which the police were desperate to find. Their pictures were pasted all over the city, and the media also highlighted news against them. This means that now there was talk about this gang throughout the city.
Since all three were evil geniuses and knew how to avoid situations, they thought that everything was temporarily against them. To keep themselves safe, they planned to leave the country. First, Andre planned to escape from the country, and for this, he bought a small yacht because it was the safest way for him to escape from the country. This plan was successful, and he reached America.
On the other hand, in South Africa, the police reached their safe house where they used to spend their time. A girl who had been a victim of their cruelty told the police about this safe house. When the police raided the safe house around five in the morning, only Michael was present there.
As the police do during any raid, they warned the people present at the place that the police had surrounded them and they should come out with their hands up without any resistance. But Michael wasn’t going to do that. He was apparently sleeping naked and got ready to face them like that.
Michael was not ready to surrender to the police in any way. He aimed his gun and started firing at the police. The police also fired back. He changed positions in the safe house and continued firing at the police. Finally, the police managed to enter the safe house and were about to catch Michael when he put his gun to his temple and fired.
On the other hand, when Heil learned that the police had become quite active in catching them, he also made a fake passport and used it to escape from South Africa to Greece. The police found various safe houses used by them and raided them. During one raid, the police also found a picture of a woman who had been a victim of Andre’s lust.
This picture convinced the police that all the allegations made by this woman when reporting to the police against this gang were true, and this safe house was also used by the gang.
After searching this safe house, the police also reached the small yacht and the person who had made the deal with the gang. After investigating him, the police learned that Andre was not in South Africa but had successfully escaped to America. The South African police passed this news to the Florida Police Department, and from there, the news reached the media. The media started printing news against Andre with his pictures.
After reading the news, people in Florida became alert about Andre and started looking for him to keep themselves safe. One day, a person recognized Andre. What happened was that Andre stole a car and contacted this person to change its color. The Florida resident immediately recognized Andre because of the pictures in the media.
Well, that person didn’t say anything to Andre immediately, but after he left, he provided information about him to the police. Then that night, the police reached outside Andre’s flat. The police had completely surrounded the flat, but luckily, Andre was not in his flat at that time. A police officer suddenly saw a person escaping on a bicycle, and it was Andre.
When the police officers rushed towards him, Andre realized the situation. Since he was also a police officer himself, he immediately left the bicycle and started running on foot to keep himself safe. As soon as a police officer reached near Andre and tried to catch him, Andre indicated that he was ready to surrender. When the police officer came close to catch him, Andre started trying to snatch his gun. Sensing the situation, that police officer took out his pistol and fired at Andre. He shot him four times, which caused his death on the spot.
Lessons Learned
Two members of this gang had already left this world, and only one was left. He should have lived a completely normal life, but if the mentality is criminal, how can a person live peacefully? The third person who survived was Heil, who went from Greece to London, and there too, he didn’t sit quietly but planned to rob a bank. But this time, luck was not on his side, and he was caught by the police.
The police investigated him, and then Heil was sentenced to 20 years in prison. After going to jail, Heil had changed. He didn’t make any plans to escape from jail like before, but spent his time like good people do. After completing his sentence, when he came out, he became a public speaker.
During his lectures, he tells people how difficult a criminal’s life is and how they should avoid it so that they can live peacefully and their society can also remain safe. He says how they wasted their talent in the world of crime and got nothing in return.