Seven ‘customers’ rob stores at gunpoint
Seven men pretending to be customers robbed Nashua Mobile at Standard Bank Square at gunpoint last Thursday afternoon.
POLOKWANE – Seven men pretending to be customers robbed Nashua Mobile at Standard Bank Square at gunpoint last Thursday afternoon.
It is suspected that this was not the first store in Polokwane they robbed in this manner, with a similar robbery having taken place some two weeks ago at MTN Limpopo Mall, in which the same modus operandi was used. According to Nashua Mobile employees, the armed robbers walked into the store unmasked and were speaking a foreign language. “The robbers checked the store out before robbing us. They came into the store in small groups. Some asked about phone contracts and others pretended to buy airtime. We didn’t realise at first what they were up to. Once all seven of them were in the store, they pulled out guns and pointed them at us. They threatened to kill us unless we gave them everything we had,” Rose Ledwaba, a sales consultant, related. “They tied our hands and feet with cable ties and took us to the back of the store, where they tied up the staff working at the back of the store as well. They took our cell phones, jewellery, handbags and everything else we had. At the time there were three ladies in the store who were clients. They also took their cell phones and handbags.
“Their faces were not covered and they spoke either Siswati or Zulu,” Ledwaba said.
She said coming to work would never be same again. “We are still scared, even now. We work in fear, continuously looking at the door, thinking they might come back.”
Bonita Gomes, manager of Nashua Mobile, said it was estimated that the robbers made away with items valued at some R400 000. Polokwane police spokesperson, Capt Ntobeng Phala, said a similar incident occurred two weeks ago at MTN Limpopo Mall. “We suspect the same group of men is responsible for both robberies as in both incidents there were the same number of men and the same modus operandi was used,” he said.
MTN Limpopo Mall manager, Bongani Mabunda said stock estimated at over R200 000 had been stolen.
No one was injured in either incident and no arrests have been made as yet. Anyone with information can contact 082 960 8203, 072 074 3005 or 0800 10111.
