More than R350 000 was stolen from the Mabopane central city branch of PEP store on Tuesday afternoon.
Three armed men entered the store around 16:00 as two others took up position at the entrance, police said on Wednesday.
Acting Loate police station commander Colonel Jan Nkomo said the robbers followed a security guard who was collecting money from the store.
“As he was entering the cash office, three armed men disarmed him at gunpoint and forced him to hand over the cash,” said Nkomo.
The robbers emptied the money into a plastic bag before fleeing. One of them took the memory card of the store’s closed circuit television camera.
“A business robbery docket was opened, but no arrests have been made yet,” said Nkomo.
He said statements were taken from the employees in the store, and the possibility of an inside job could not be ruled out.
“Statements of witnesses are key to helping us crack the case.”
A security guard at the store told police the robbers ordered him to step aside and not to interfere.
“They pushed me aside and said they wanted to work,” he said.
There were a few customers in the shop, but none of them realised a robbery was in progress. The robbers left within 10 minutes.
Four men were recently arrested in connection with a robbery at another PEP store in the Thorntree shopping centre in Soshanguve.
The robbers fled with an undisclosed amount of money and about 300 cellphones.
An off-duty police officer saw the robbery and called for back-up. A police chase ensued. The fugitives lost control of their vehicle and ended up in an open field, where they were arrested.
Nkomo said investigations were underway and urged anyone with information to call the crime hotline on 08600-10111.
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