Three armed men went on a robbery and hijacking spree in Pretoria on Wednesday, police said.
Inspector Anton Breedt said the men began their spree at a travel agency in the Willows shopping centre. ”They held up staff at gunpoint and robbed them of two laptops. The suspects fled in a white Volkswagen Polo Playa.”
The men later stopped at the intersection of Forrow and Simon Vermooten streets and robbed two motorists of their cellphones and bags.
”As they fled the scene, they collided with another vehicle on the corner of Frangipani and Simon Vermooten streets,” Breedt said. ”They jumped out of the vehicles and ran away. Fortunately, one was arrested a few metres from the scene.”
At another intersection, the remaining two men hijacked a Toyota Stallion from a plumber. They drove off and later hit a tree. They got out of the vehicle, but one was caught by a security guard from a nearby townhouse complex.
The third man is still at large.
The arrested men, from Mamelodi and aged 24 and 27, will appear in court soon.
Soweto arrests
Meanwhile, four men were arrested on Wednesday evening after a man was robbed of his bakkie, cash and cellphone in Ridgeway, southern Johannesburg, police said.
The men were arrested in Diepkloof, Soweto, while driving a Mercedes-Benz they allegedly used during the robbery, said Captain Mbhazima Shiburi.
The bakkie was stolen from a 33-year-old man who had stopped to open his gate at about 7pm. ”The men came out of the Mercedes-Benz, threatened the driver of the bakkie with firearms and demanded his car keys. Two of them jumped into the bakkie with the man’s wallet and cellphone.”
They fled in both vehicles.
After reporting the matter to the police, the man accompanied them in a search around the area and in neighbouring Soweto.
”After a thorough investigation, we arrested the men, who were still driving their Mercedes-Benz, in Diepkloof and took them to a house where they had kept the man’s wallet and cellphone,” said Shiburi.
Police found two illegal firearms with ammunition at the house. The bakkie was recovered earlier in the same area.
The men — aged between 25 and 40 — will soon appear in the Booysens Magistrate’s Court for armed robbery and possession of unlicensed firearms, said Shiburi. — Sapa