Shop assistants tied up during Exact store robbery

Police are searching for eight men who carried out a brazen daylight robbery at a clothing store in Mall@Carnival, Brakpan in Gauteng on Wednesday.

Three of the suspects entered the store at about 9.10am posing as customers, Brakpan Herald reported.

Brakpan police spokesperson Captain Joep Joubert said one of the suspects took clothes and went to the fitting room.

“He then came out and went to the counter where he took out a pistol and pointed it at the two shop assistants. The other two suspects emptied the shop`s till and took 142 phones and 27 tablets.

“The two shop assistants were taken to the back of the shop where their hands were tied with cable ties,” added Joubert.

He added some of the other suspects remained outside the shop, talking to the security guards from a neighbouring store in order to distract them.

The robbers fled the scene in a white Toyota Quantum with false number plates.

Investigations continue.

In a separate incident, two clothing stores in two different shopping centres in Pretoria West and Atteridgeville were robbed of thousands of rands last year.

Police spokesperson Captain Augustinah Selepe said: “The first robbery happened in Pretoria West in the Quagga Shopping Centre. Three men entered the Markham store and held staff hostage at gunpoint. Two of the three suspects were armed with 9mm pistols.”

Selepe said R7 000 was stolen, together with clothing and about 40 cellphones, Rekord Moot reported.

The store did not have any CCTV cameras, Selepe said.

In the other incident, three men robbed the Exact shop in Attlyn Mall at gunpoint.

“The suspects took cash out of the tills and held staff hostage inside the storeroom where there was a safe. The three ordered staff to open the safe and put the boxes of [new] cellphones into a bag,” she added.

– Caxton News Service