MBOMBELA – Two men, pretending to be customers, robbed Total Sports in Paul Kruger Street at gunpoint on Sunday. Nobody was harmed and the suspects made off with various items, including a number of cellphones.
One of the employees, who spoke to Lowvelder but did not want to be named for fear of the suspects, said the incident happened around 10:00.
There were no other customers in the shop when one of the robbers asked her for a specific tekkie in a different size.
All the stock is kept in the storeroom and when she opened the door to assist him, both men forced the two other employees behind her into the room. They threatened the employees with guns.
“They wanted us to open the safe, but our safe has a combination lock that requires two keys. We only keep one of the keys at the store,” she said. “They said that we were going to die if we didn’t give them the keys.”
She said they fiddled with the safe for a while, until they eventually realised they would be unable to open it. They then grabbed two travel bags and three school bags off the shelves and stuffed them with new cellphones before fleeing in a vehicle that was parked outside the shop.
The three immediately phoned the manager, who called the police. The ordeal left the victims traumatised. “I am so scared. I saw their faces, and they saw mine. I don’t want them to come after me for talking,” said another staff member.
She added one of the robbers was tall, with a scar in his neck, and wore a green shirt and black trousers. The other was dressed in jeans and a blue-and-red striped long-sleeve shirt.
“My staff are traumatised and scared, I don’t want to put them in any more danger,” the manager told Lowvelder.
At the time of going to press, the value of the stolen property had not yet been determined. Spokesman for the Mbombela police, Capt Dawie Pretorius, confirmed the incident. He said the case was being investigated.
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