Watch: Brazen robbers hit Mpumalanga jewellery store

In what can only be described as a brazen act, four men, some armed with crowbars and one with a gun, robbed Roy Sarkin Jewellers at Casterbridge Lifestyle Centre in White River, Mpumalanga, just after 10:00 this morning.

According to the owner, Roy Sarkin, this is the second time this year the store has been robbed. The first was on July 22.

He says he had just stepped out to get a cup of coffee and his wife was still inside the store. He locked the door and gate behind him when he left.

CCTV footage of the incident shows three men with shopping bags, some armed with crowbars and one holding a gun, kicking open the door and entering the shop, after they seemingly pried open the gate with the crowbars. The fourth man remained at the door outside.

The video only lasts 12 seconds.

Sarkin says his wife was luckily not harmed in the incident and that he has opened a police case. He adds that the men told his wife they will be back.

The CCTV cameras were installed after the first robbery.

Sarkin has not yet calculated the value of the items stolen but says the robbers got away with more items than they did in the first robbery.

“During the first robbery, the suspects told us they didn’t want to hurt us as we were their customers, and that they would be back to rob us again,” says Sarkin.

Casterbridge’s Louis van der Merwe says the incident was ‘so brazen’, but that they are grateful they caught clear footage of the suspects on the CCTV footage.

Provincial police spokesperson Brigadier Selvy Mohlala says a case of business robbery is being investigated.