Namdia Heist: More questions, lots of confusion

22 January, 2025

Namib Desert Diamonds (Namdia) Head Office, Cnr of Dr Kwame Nkrumah. Avenue & Dr Sam Nujoma Drive. Klein Windhoek.

By Wonder Guchu

“Apart from the media causing so much confusion, the whole Namib Desert Diamonds (Namdia) heist is as baffling as it is unbelievable that three people could contemplate pulling off such a multi-million-dollar robbery in broad daylight. And just why would a well-known squash player be so daring to pull off such a robbery with no mask”?

The armed robbery at Namdia offices on Saturday, January 18, 2025, in Windhoek raises more questions than answers. It happened around 18h00 in fairly broad daylight, and the robbers targeted a place in a build-up area with cameras.

A senior Namdia protection officer, Francis Eiseb, 57, is dead, while one of the robbers, Max Endjala, was found with gunshot wounds. Endjala later died in the hospital. One of the robbers, Sam Shololo, sustained injuries during a shootout with the police and was hospitalised. The extent of the injuries is unknown, but he could not appear in court on Tuesday, January 21, 2025. The police found Eiseb’s body in a storeroom. He had been shot in the head. His hands and legs were tied. There was a shopping plastic bag over his head. Namdia said Eiseb was killed when he “valiantly confronted the robbers.”

Eiseb has been employed at Namdia since 2019.

Squash player & Trustco Group Holdings Chief Operations Officer in the Internal and Forensics Investigations Unit, Max Endjala

‘Not the Max we know.’

The official version is that Endjala, 44, shot himself in the act of attempted suicide when they were surrounded. Namdia CEO Alisa Amupolo said in a statement, “One suspect died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound during the incident.” The Namibian Sun on Tuesday, January 21, 2025, said the police arrived at the crime scene 40 minutes later and found both men already shot. Endjala was an executive at Trustco Group Holdings, working as the Chief Operations Officer in the Internal and Forensic Investigations Unit.

In a statement on January 20, 2025, Trustco Group Holdings said Endjala “was tragically killed during an armed robbery and shooting incident.” The company described Endjala as “a valued member of the Trustco family for more than 21 years.” Trustco Group Holdings announced they would fly their flag at half mast for five days to honour Endjala, saying it is their tradition.

Endjala played in the national men’s squash team and represented Namibia at the South African Country Districts squash tournament in Limpopo last May. According to The Namibian newspaper, Endjala was ranked 831st best squash player globally and number four nationally. Friends and family described Endjala as a kind-hearted and generous man. On Wednesday, January 22, 2025, The Namibian said Endjala would fire people for stealing toilet paper and petty cash. The paper cited squash player Steven Berry, who said, “It’s not him. It’s just not the way he is or who he was.”

Breaking the story

Trustco Group Holdings owns the Informante online newspaper, which broke the robbery story on a windswept Saturday afternoon. The publication gave a blow-by-blow account of the robbery throughout Saturday and Sunday. It was also among the first to identify Endjala as the robber who had died from injuries sustained during the robbery. Informante did not link Endjala to the company despite publishing his picture. The only reference made was that Endjala was a top squash player.

Trustco Group Holding’s confirmation came in a statement on Monday, January 20, 2025. The statement said the company had established an internal investigation team led by the Head of its Group Legal, Risk, and Compliance Unit. The company said it was cooperating fully with authorities to ensure justice is served. It is unclear yet why and how Informante got the story first and why they did not initially link Endjala to the holding company. The only time Informante mentioned Endjala was when Trustco Group Holdings confirmed his death.

Namib Desert Diamonds Security Officer, Joel Angula

The other suspects

Initially, the police said there could be more than four suspects, with Namdia saying in a statement dated January 19, 2025, that there were four. It turned out that there were just three: Endjala, Namdia security officer Joel Angula, 45, and Shololo, 45. Angula appeared in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, January 21, 2025, charged with murder, theft, attempted murder, and illegal possession of diamonds. The State opposed bail and ordered him to appear in court on May 23, 2025. Angula was a physical training instructor at the Pius Joseph Kaundu Police Training Centre in Omaheke before moving to Namdia.

The court also charged Shololo with the same charges in absentia and ordered him to come to court on May 23, 2025.

Angula is a former police officer and a cousin to Endjala, according to various media sources.

Shololo is a former member of the defence forces.

Earlier reports suggested a white Mercedes-Benz with Angolan number plates sped off the scene. This version has since been dismissed. The Namibian cites unnamed sources who said the CCTV footage does not show any such car, nor does it show that two other suspects fled the scene. Police also dismissed claims that some of the suspects fled through the roof.

Eiseb’s death

According to The Namibian, Angula was on duty when the robbers gained entry using an old pass he had given to Endjala. Eiseb was not on duty when the robbers entered, tied up Angula, and harassed and threatened the workers, according to The Namibian.

There are three versions as to how Eiseb rushed to Namdia. In its Monday, January 20, 2025 edition, the New Era said a security guard called Herman alerted the neighbours about the robbery. The neighbours then called Eiseb. This has not been confirmed or repeated anywhere. The second version is that some of the employees alerted Eiseb about the robbery, while a third says some neighbours who suspected something was happening called Eiseb.

Namdia and the police are yet to give an account of what transpired on Saturday on how Eiseb was killed and by whom, but The Namibian Sun quotes an unnamed source saying the police were investigating whether Endjala is the one who killed Eiseb by checking if the bullets that killed both men were fired from the same gun.

The Namibian Sun reported on Wednesday, January 22, 2025, that sources said the trio arrived at Namdia around 14h00 when Angula started duty while Shololo and Endjala remained in Angula’s car parked outside until around 16h00 when the robbery went into motion.

This version could corroborate The Namibian‘s, which said Edjala left training and drove to Trustco offices on Saturday afternoon and was picked up from there. This also ties in with the version that Endjala wore shorts and had no mask when he entered Namdia’s offices.

Namibia Desert Diamonds CEO, Alisa Amupolo

Missing diamonds

Namdia CEO Alisa Amupolo said in a statement dated January 20, 2025, that the robbers fled with some diamonds. Amupolo did not say how many diamonds there were; apart from that, the value was still to be ascertained. Although Namdia did not give the monetary value of the stolen diamonds, the media gave varying figures from different sources.

On Monday, January 20, 2025, The Namibian put the figure at N$1 billion. In its Tuesday, January 21, 2025 edition, The Namibian said the value could be between N$1 billion and N$1.3 billion. The New Era gave N$282 million, while The Namibian Sun did not say how much the stolen diamonds were worth apart from saying that the robbers were targeting a N$700 million consignment. The Namibian Sun said Namdia wanted to auction the diamonds to an international client on Monday, January 20, 2025.

An online publication, The Issue, claimed that “possibly over N$318 million worth of diamonds” disappeared. There were also unconfirmed reports of diamonds found on the streets outside the Namdia building. The only confirmed diamonds were found on Angula when he was arrested on Sunday, January 19, 2025. Neither Namdia nor the police have said how much these diamonds were.

The Namibian Sun also reported on Wednesday, January 22, 2025, that the police found 13 parcels of diamonds at Angula’s home. The paper did not give the value of the diamonds. The Namibian scaled its projections from N$1 billion to N$349.3 million, while the New Era maintained its Monday, January 20, 2025 figure of N$280 million. The Namibian Sun, however, revealed that there could be 446 parcels missing, and with Endjala dead and Shololo in the hospital and the theory of two other suspects fleeing the scene eliminated, attention is now on those who responded to the calls for help—the police and security guards.

One would also ask about keeping such several diamonds out in the open and not in the vault. If The Namibian Sun report is correct, how did the robbers access the vault, which should be limited to a few people?

Namibian Police Force, Deputy Inspector-General, Elias Mutota

Weak security and police inaction

Deputy Inspector-General Elias Mutota told The Issue that the police warned Namdia last year about a possible robbery. Mutota also said they warned Namdia to strengthen their security.

“We had a meeting with them and warned them that we had information about a planned heist. We informed them to be vigilant and upgrade their security,” Mutota said.

Namdia has not confirmed the meeting with the police and the warning given.

The police admission raises a number of questions, mainly that Mutota did not elaborate on the warning.

If the police had prior intelligence on the robbery, did they know when it would happen? Did they know who, especially now with all SIM cards registered, was planning to rob Namdia? What role were the police supposed to play in this case when they were informed of a possible robbery at Namdia?

Now that they did not act well before the robbery and two lives were lost, can the police still talk about warning Namdia and yet fail to help strengthen security at the company?

Written by: Tonata Kadhila

armed robbery Corporate security breach Francis Eiseb Investigations Max Endjala Missing diamonds Namdia robbery Namibia Desert Diamonds Namibian heist Namibian judiciary Police inaction Squash player trustco group Windhoek