Armed robbers strike in Ballito

Armed robbers attempted to hit two homes in Zen Drive, Ballito this afternoon, making off with an estimated R200 000 in electronic items and assaulting a man.

Shortly after 4pm four men driving a silver Volkswagen with ND registration plates reversed into a property in Zen Drive, while the elderly resident, Deon Myburgh (73), was upstairs.

Apparently, one of the men had jumped the fence and opened the gate straight from the motor’s box.

According to Carmen Power of Specialised Rescue Unit (SRU), the gardener approached the vehicle but was confronted by one of the men armed with pistol.

He received a blow to the head with the pistol.

“They held him at gunpoint and forced him upstairs,” said Power.

Warrant officer Vinny Pillay, spokesperson to Umhlali SAPS, told The Courier that the assailants were smartly dressed and spoke in both English and Zulu.

“They addressed Mr Myburgh as ‘mkhulu’ and told the gardener to lie down. Then they began raiding the house,” said Pillay.

“The robbers took five laptops, one notebook, one tablet, three TV’s, two cellphones, three expensive watches, a cybershot and a MarinePak, all together worth an estimated R200 000.”

An earlier attempted break-in at another Zen Drive property had been unsuccessful.

According to SRU it is highly likely to have been by the same group, as descriptions from the attempted break-in also mentioned a silver VW.

After the robbers left, Myburgh contacted his son in law who alerted SRU.

“We called Netcare 911 to assist. The gardener was treated for a nasty gash on his head.”

SRU’s Quentin Power advised homeowners who rely on electric gates to consider arming them with an alarm.

“If you have an electric gate, attaching your alarm system to it will let you know if it is opened without the remote,” he said.

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