HE placed explosives to blow off the cash-in-transit van.
But the detonator exploded in his presence leading to him to be beheaded in the process.
And this did not deter other suspects from carrying out their mission.
They loaded boxes of undisclosed cash into a white single cab Ford Ranger and silver BMW.
National police spokeswoman Colonel Athlenda Mathe said they are on a hunt for the suspects.
The heist took place on R28 Main Reef in Mohlakeng in West Rand and suspects are believed to have fled to Soweto.
Colonel Mathe said Bekkersdal police bumped into the heist which was still in progress at around 9am today.
"They were shot at by a group of men sitting behind a white Ford ranger. Both members and the awaiting trial prisoners were not injured during the ordeal," she said.
She added at the scene, police found that the G4S cash van had already been bombed and next to the cash van, a body of a man who for now preliminary investigations suggest that he was a suspect, and his head may have been blown off and during the process of the explosion.
"A burnout 3 series BMW was also found at the scene and it has been established that it was stolen in Kagiso in December."
Soon after the suspects left, people descended to the scene to pick up money.
Colonel said this was unacceptable.
"We are warning the public to stop this tendency of picking money scattered at CIT scenes because firstly they might be implicating themselves, and secondly heist scenes can be particularly dangerous as not all explosives might have been detonated when the robbery was committed. Like we have seen the suspect lost his life due to detonator exploding in his presence,” she said
