Robber’s cellphone exposes him
The man robbed a spaza shop in Eden Park and left his unlocked cell phone at the scene.

An armed robber stormed an Eden Park spaza shop and held the store owner up at gunpoint. He took grocery items worth almost R300 and fled the scene in a car with no license plates.
However, the getaway vehicle was identified as a white Toyota Quantum minibus taxi. The suspect’s cellphone, thought to have fallen out of his pocket when he fled the crime scene, exposed him.
The phone was spotted and did not need a security password or pattern.
A mere swipe unlocked the phone, and his pictures were in his gallery. One shows the suspect with what looks like a firearm on his waist, and another of him seated in what looks like a mall.

Minutes after the armed robbery on the evening of January 11, the suspect called his phone from another number, and upon realising his phone was in the victim’s possession, he immediately hung up and tried to have his cellphone’s sim card blocked.
The cellphone sells for about R2 000 at most reputable cellular shops, almost seven more than the items he stole. It is thought the suspect is a taxi driver and is still at large despite pictures clearly showing who he is.
Speaking to the Alberton Record on condition of anonymity, a source said, “The shop owner was at the police station to open a case but had a change of mind due to fear of intimidation. So the owner opted not to open a case,” revealed the source.
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