A robber posing as a police official who claimed to be investigating a criminal case managed to con staff members and the owner before pulling out a firearm and robbing a business in Port Elizabeth on Thursday morning.
The wannabe police official‚ who was accompanied by four other robbers‚ held the owner and staff members at Just Lounge Suites & SA Foam & Mattress CC at gunpoint before ransacking the shop.
Police spokesperson Captain Sandra Janse van Rensburg said that four men posing as customers had entered the shop five minutes before the robbery.
“A man dressed in a uniform‚ thought to be a police uniform‚ then entered the shop and told the owner that he was investigating a criminal case. The suspect then asked the owner to call the staff together so that he could question them‚” Janse van Rensburg said. “When all the staff were rounded up‚ the men posing as customers joined. Some were armed with firearms.”
The robbers then beat the owner before tying him up. “They stole seven cellphones from staff members and the owner. The men also ransacked the shop. They found an undisclosed amount of money which was then stolen during the robbery‚” Janse van Rensburg said.
“While the robbery was under way‚ a nearby shop owner was alerted to suspicious activity at the shop. He went outside to investigate and was confronted by the robbers running out of the shop. They managed to overpower him‚ hit him and also steal his private firearm.”
Janse van Rensburg said that the robbers then fled in the man’s vehicle. By late Thursday afternoon the stolen vehicle had not yet been recovered.
A case of armed robbery for the business robbery and theft of the firearm is under investigation.\par
Robber posing as cop robs PE business
A robber posing as a police official who claimed to be investigating a criminal case managed to con staff members and the owner before pulling out a firearm and robbing a business in Port Elizabeth on Thursday morning.
The wannabe police official‚ who was accompanied by four other robbers‚ held the owner and staff members at Just Lounge Suites & SA Foam & Mattress CC at gunpoint before ransacking the shop.
Police spokesperson Captain Sandra Janse van Rensburg said that four men posing as customers had entered the shop five minutes before the robbery.
“A man dressed in a uniform‚ thought to be a police uniform‚ then entered the shop and told the owner that he was investigating a criminal case. The suspect then asked the owner to call the staff together so that he could question them‚” Janse van Rensburg said. “When all the staff were rounded up‚ the men posing as customers joined. Some were armed with firearms.”
The robbers then beat the owner before tying him up. “They stole seven cellphones from staff members and the owner. The men also ransacked the shop. They found an undisclosed amount of money which was then stolen during the robbery‚” Janse van Rensburg said.
“While the robbery was under way‚ a nearby shop owner was alerted to suspicious activity at the shop. He went outside to investigate and was confronted by the robbers running out of the shop. They managed to overpower him‚ hit him and also steal his private firearm.”
Janse van Rensburg said that the robbers then fled in the man’s vehicle. By late Thursday afternoon the stolen vehicle had not yet been recovered.
A case of armed robbery for the business robbery and theft of the firearm is under investigation.\par
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