Two bank officials had petrol poured over them and were threatened with being burnt alive during an armed bank robbery in Fort Beaufort on the weekend. Inspector Mali Govender said the employees were saved from possible injury after complying with the robbers’ demands.
Govender said four armed men forced themselves into the bank at about 7.45am on Saturday after the door was opened by an employee to allow a work colleague in.
”The intruders instructed the bank manager to comply with their instructions failing which they would be shot or burnt to death,” Govender said.
One of the robbers then doused the manager and a second employee with petrol from a two-litre bottle he was carrying.
”The staff were forced at gunpoint to hand over their panic remotes, keys and video-tapes from a security camera,” Govender said.
One of the employees was ordered to open a safe on the premises and an undisclosed amount of money was removed.
The robbers made their getaway in one of the employees’ Silver/Grey Opel Corsa.
It was later found abandoned in the Alice area.
”Luckily no shots were fired and the robbers did not put a match to the doused employees as they had threatened to do,” Govender said.
There had been no arrests and anyone with information was requested to contact Inspector John Manzana on 0827707117. – Sapa