MBOMBELA – Five alleged members of the so-called perfume gang will be behind bars when the products they were charged with stealing, are sold in a discounted sale this weekend. Mopani Pharmacy’s “recovered fragrances” sale will offer shoppers up to 50 per cent off on the stock retrieved after a heist at the newly renovated Crossing Centre on April 26. Toy Zone was also robbed.
At 04:00 that day an official of High-Tech Guards saw three suspect vehicles entering the newly renovated Crossing Centre. He confronted the drivers, but was reportedly held at gunpoint while the two stores were broken into and ransacked. CCTV footage showed three men smashing Toy Zone’s door and making their way to the store’s expensive toys, which included Xboxes, PlayStations and Hoverboards.
Click here for video footage footage of the Toy Zone robbery.
The alarms were triggered and Hi-Tech Security Nelspruit’s armed response unit rushed to the scene and approached the suspects. A shoot-out ensued and one of the suspect vehicles’ tyres was hit. Hi-Tech’s rapid-response unit was called in. The suspects fled in the direction of Barberton on the R40. By the time they reached the first hairpin bend, the wheel’s rim was exposed. Two of the gang’s vehicles veered off the road. The police arrived shortly afterwards. Five suspects were arrested while the others fled the scene.
Click on this image for Lowvelder’s original report:
Two days later Messrs Tebogo Moloantoa (32), Edward Marion Matthys (40), Alista Ferris (35), Baltazar Nkabinde (35) and Ishmael Smith (39) were charged with robbing a business, housebreaking with intent to rob, and robbery with aggravating circumstances.
When they appeared in court on Thursday their attorney, Mr Sifiso Mabilane, read his clients’ sworn statements and applied for bail on their behalf. They denied having been involved in the crimes. All five the accused wanted to stand trial to prove their innocence. It was placed on record that Smith had been found guilty of murder in 2004 and is currently on trial for allegedly committing a robbery in Kimberly. The other four have no criminal records or pending cases against them.
State prosecutor Mr Oupa Ndlovu opposed the accused’s bail applications as they were facing serious charges. The magistrate Mr Jan Ngobeni ruled in favour of the state and postponed the case to June 14.
On April 27 a bomb threat was made to the Nelspruit police station’s 10111 line. It had been widely speculated that this might have been the work of the perfume gang.
The local police have since declared that there was no truth to these allegations.
