Nelspruit police search for suspects of student house robbery
No arrests have yet been made following a robbery at a student house in Ext 5 in Mbombela.
The Nelspruit police are still searching for six suspects who allegedly robbed several students at gunpoint at a student house in Ext 5 on Sunday night April 16.
According to Nelspruit Police Station’s Captain Zandile Gqawa, six suspects, some of them armed, had allegedly entered a student establishment in Giraffe Street just before 19:00 and threatened them with firearms.
The robbers allegedly instructed them to move to the lounge where they demanded they undress before stealing some laptops, cellphones and clothes. They loaded the items into an Isuzu double-cab belonging to a visitor at the house, and sped off from the scene.
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“The double-cab was later recovered in Pienaar,” said Gqawa.
Techno Security’s operational manager, Marelize Burger, said while the robbery was in progress, one of the residents had managed to run from the property to a nearby guest house, which is a client of the security company. She said someone there pressed the panic button, sending a call for help to Techno Security just after 19:00.
“An armed reaction officer was dispatched and on his arrival, he immediately called for backup.”
Burger said she arrived at the accommodation with another reaction unit. Other local security companies arrived shortly thereafter.
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“Information from the scene indicated there had been about 18 students in the house when the robbery occurred, but this figure could not be confirmed as some of the victims had reportedly left the scene after the incident,” Burger said.
Gqawa could not confirm the number of students living at the house at the time of going to press.
John Meintjes of ACS Spartan Security, the chairperson of the Nelspruit CPF, said local security companies kept a presence in the area for the rest of the night.
Gqawa said no arrests had been made at this stage and urged anyone with information regarding the incident to contact Detective Colonel Thami Mkhaliphi on 082 408 9631.
