Fifteen armed men robbed the Monte Visto Casino in Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal, of an undisclosed amount of cash on Sunday, said police.
The gang overpowered a security guard and forced its way into the casino, said Superintendent Buhle Ngidi.
”They jumped over the cash desk and demanded cash. An undisclosed sum of money was taken.
”They used three vehicles when leaving the scene and one of the getaway cars was abandoned along Dannhauser road, a few kilometres from Newcastle.”
No-one was injured and no arrests have been made.
Ngidi said the abandoned car was later found to have been stolen in Gauteng.
The robbery is just the latest in a spate of attacks on casinos. A 20-man gang shot its way into the Meropa casino, near Polokwane, shortly before 1am on December 20, robbing it of an undisclosed amount of cash and its patrons and staff of their
cellphones and money.
On December 15, eight armed robbers held up staff and gamblers at The Ridge Casino, Mpumalanga, escaping in a hijacked car with an undisclosed amount of cash.
A manhunt was launched in Mpumalanga on December 6 for 20 assault-rifle and pistol-toting men who robbed a casino in Nelspruit of about R1m.
Police believe four women and eight men were behind a heist at the Carousel, outside Pretoria, in which an employee and a customer were pistol-whipped on November 5.
A gang of eight men fled with cash on a trolley after a shootout at Gold Reef City Casino, south of Johannesburg on November 16, this after 12 robbers had struck at Emperor’s Palace, on the East Rand, on September 4.
Nine men and three women forced the supervisor of Carnival City, also on the East Rand, to open a safe before loading money into bags and fleeing at 2am on October 8.
In September 2004, R23-million was taken in a heist at Montecasino, in Sandton.
Police have asked anyone able to assist in their investigation into the latest robbery to contact Inspector Tinus du Plooy on 082-411-7105, or Inspector Madela on 082-344-4369. – Sapa