A shopkeeper and his customer were robbed at gun-point last week.
Police say, a woman and four men, armed with a gun and knives, entered the shop in Main Road, Plumstead, last week and ordered the shopkeeper and customer to lie down.
“The suspects then robbed the owners of their cellphones before locking them up in the back of the store,” Warrant Officer Keith Chandler said. “The shopkeeper managed to escape over the back and alert police. In the meantime the suspects stole cash, cigarettes and other items from the shop before fleeing in a white Chevy motor vehicle which was parked around the corner according to witnesses.”
The police’s forensics department, the neighbourhood watch, security companies and detectives investigated the scene but the robbers were not caught.
Anyone with information can contact Detective Warrant Officer Steven Lewis at 021 710 7342.
* Police arrested three men in the early hours of Saturday morning after one of them tossed a gun over a resident’s wall in Diep River.
According to Warrant Officer Chandler of Diep River police and the City’s media office, neighbourhood watch members noticed a vehicle that had been used in an attempted house robbery in Plumstead driving around in Diep River.
“The call came in on the community radio and was responded to by BH Security and law enforcement officers,” Warrant Officer Chandler said.
The security company tailed the vehicle, the City’s media office said, and when law enforcement caught up with the vehicle, the driver fled at high speed. On the corner of Hanover and Myburgh roads the driver lost control of the vehicle and drove into the pavement.
The occupants tried to flee on foot but were caught.
Diep River police reviewed the law enforcement’s dash cam footage and noticed that one of the men had tossed an object over a resident’s wall. Police searched the garden and found a firearm from which all serial numbers had been filed off. It was sent to forensics for ballistic analysis.
“The 9mm pistol had seven rounds in the magazine. All three suspects were arrested on the scene and detained at SAPS Diep River,” Warrant Officer Chandler said.
* On Friday evening police and Metro police held a roadblock in Diep River Main Road. A total of 137 drivers were tested for drunk driving and seven were arrested for driving over the legal limit. Police issued 29 fines.
* Over the weekend police arrested four people for possession of drugs, one for house breaking and one for possession of a dangerous weapon.
* The City’s enforcement agencies arrested 166 suspects last week – two of them on charges of armed robbery.
