Six rob downtown liquor store
Six gunmen overpowered a security guard and robbed a popular liquor store in Bester Street over the weekend.
NELSPRUIT – The incident occurred at approximately 21:30 on Sunday evening as the store’s management were cashing up the tills. The owner of the store, mr Lewie da Silva (48) was present at the time.
CCTV footage of the event allegedly shows the group forcing open the door of the store as a security guard attempts to push it closed. The men overpowered the guard and shot him in the arm. Once inside the store they closed the door behind them to prevent alerting passers by. The manager was severely beaten over the head with a gun by one armed man, while another kicked him in the ribs. He was forced to hand over the cash from a safe. The men then stole the cell phones and wallets of all the employees before fleeing from the scene in what appeared to be a white sedan with Mozambican number plates.
“We received a panic alert from the store at 21:31 and immediately dispatched armed response teams to the scene,” said Hi-Tech General Manager, Vernon Lancaster. “This is a notoriously dangerous part of town and so we dispatched a number of vehicles there, but it was just too late. We examined the CCTV footage and noticed the men were waiting outside the store since 16:00, watching the movement of the staff and the clients. The one suspect even pretended to be drunk as he stood there swaying with a beer in the hand – nobody would have suspected anything.”
Da Silva owns eight other liquor outlets in the area and said that this was the first time he had experienced a robbery. “These guys were very quick and I am certain they were professionals as they knew exactly what they were doing. It was all over in less than three minutes.”
According to Da Silva the Nelspruit Police, Hi-Tech Security Nelspruit and the Emergency Medical Services responded quickly. “They were brilliant and we all thank them for the way in which they responded to our call. It is a sad day indeed as one of my staff members was severely beaten and another shot. We are still traumatized.”
At the time of going to print the exact amount of money stolen by this group had not been made public and SAPS were investigating the matter.
