A SECURITY guard was shot during an armed robbery in Pinetown after a gang of four men stormed into a store in Hill Street recently.
Blue Security’s managing director, Darryn le Grange, said the men, all armed with guns, held up staff and customers and forced them to lie down on the floor. “The gang forced the manager to open the safe. Shots were fired as the gang fled and a security guard, who was working on site, was shot in the leg. The gang fled with cash stolen from the safe and the tills,” said le Grange.
Netcare paramedics attended the scene and transported the injured guard to Crompton Hospital. The case was reported to the Pinetown SAPS who attended the scene.
In another incident in Goshawk Road in New Germany, a gang of seven men, three of them were armed, dug a hole under a fence to gain access into a business premises.
“The gang held up truck drivers who had parked their vehicles on the property. The gang fled with cash, passports, driver’s licenses, cellphones and identity documents,” said le Grange.
He urged business owners to install CCTV cameras, as these could assist police with investigations and also act as a deterrent to criminals.
Criminals also targeted residential properties in Hillcrest, Pinetown, Westville, New Germany and Gillitts. “In several cases, housebreakers smashed windows and forced open burglar bars and stole laptops, jewellery, televisions, a cellphone and other valuables. In one incident in Springside Road, a gang removed tiles off the garage roof to break in and steal two bicycles. One of our reaction officers arrested a robber who broke into a Wendy house on a property in Glockner Road in New Germany. Carpets and a handbag were recovered on the property,” Le Grange said.
