A SECURITY guard was yesterday tied up and bundled into a butchery cold storage during a robbery at Metro wholesale in Hazyview, Mpumalanga.

A SECURITY guard was yesterday tied up and bundled into a butchery cold storage during a robbery at Metro wholesale in Hazyview, Mpumalanga.

Police said Louis Thusane was rescued by employees when they opened the refrigerator and found him among stacks of frozen meat.

Hazyview police spokesperson Constable Mpho Koli said Thusane spent more than four hours in the cold storage.

"He is lucky to be alive after being bundled into the refrigerator from the early hours of the morning. He was rescued at 6am.

"When the wholesale employees arrived in the morning they found him shivering and took him out," Koli said.

She said Thusane was patrolling when he saw eight armed men cutting down the fence. The men then started walking towards him.

"He tried in vain to escape but the men surrounded him and pointed firearms at him. They used a sharp instrument to cut through the roof of the building and get inside.

"They took an undisclosed amount of cash and some items from the shelves. After the looting the suspects left the building using the main entrance," she said.

Thusane told the police that six of the alleged criminals were armed with pistols, while the other two were armed with rifles.

Koli said all the suspects were still at large. She said the police were investigating a case of robbery and attempted murder.