On Friday a man was arrested after allegedly trying to rob a group of shoppers at “gunpoint” at Crossing Shopping Centre.
Brandishing a made-in-China plastic version of an assault rifle, he was able to fool shoppers into thinking he was handling a real firearm.
He allegedly approached a group of people on foot and threatened them with the toy. They managed to run away. The assailant, however, did not fool the centre’s security. A partolling operative of Hi-Tech Guards witnessed the attempted robbery and gave chase, which caused the suspect to flee into the nearby vlei.
ACS, SAPS, Nelspruit Concerned Citizens and Bossies Community Justice were alerted and rushed to the scene.
They searched for the suspect, and initially thought he had escaped. ACS Security remained on the scene, and told the newspaper the suspect then tried to make a run for it across the R40. They managed to arrest the man.
He was still in possession of the toy gun as well as a knife. He was detained for interrogation by SAPS. According to the owner of ACS Security, Mr Johan Kriel, the victims or any eyewitnesses need to come forward in order to assist with the case.