PENSIONERS and customers ran for cover when armed assailants openly bombed an ATM in a robbery over the weekend at a petrol station.
The incident has also left two petrol attendants traumatised after they were caught in the middle of the robbers escaping with their loot in Mmametlhake, Mpumalanga.
Five heavily armed men entered their workplace on Saturday morning.
One of the attendants, Tumisho Moeketsi said the men arrived at about 6am.
"It was busy in front of the shop," Moeketsi said.
"There were taxis in front of the store and pensioners, who had come to collect their social grants had already lined up, But all of this did not deter the thugs.
Moeketsi said two of the assailants stood at the entrance of the shop while three others bombed the ATM machines.
It all happened quickly. It took them less than five minutes to blow up the ATMs and get the cash.
Attendant Junias Rampatla said: "One of the bombed ATMs is placed in a locked safe and we lock for the night every time we knock off.
"I had just opened the safe when suddenly a blue Audi A4 stopped next to me and two men with big guns ordered me to lie down.
"They put in ann explosive, which went off a few moments later, and then grabbed the container from the ATM."
Rampatla said after bombing the machine the men proceeded to anotherATM inside the supermarket and also blew it up. But no money was stolen - it was just a mess".
Mmametlhake police spokesperson Hastings Chaane said a case of armed robbery was being investigated.
"So far no arrest has been made but the Audi used in the robbery was found abandoned about 5km from where the robbery took place," he said.
The police have established that the Audi A4 used in the ATM bombings was stolen in Pretoria.
This ATM bombing was followed by a failed mission yesterday to rob an ATM in Polokwane.
Ten men were arrested yesterday when they were found in possession of three unlicensed firearms.
Police spokesperson Colonel Motlafela Mojapelo said the arrest was made at about 7.30pm on the Tzaneen- Haenertsburg road.
Mojapelo said the men also had a powder usually used by criminals to explode ATMs.
He said the suspects had allegedly planned to bomb ATMs in and around Tzaneen, Nkowankowa and Lebowakgomo.
The men were expected to appear in the Tzaneen magistrate's court today.
The incident took place days after a shootout between the police and robbers suspected of having been responsible for the bombing of two ATMs in Apel, outside Lebowakgomo, in recent weeks.
The robbers were driving a Mercedes-Benz that was found to have been stolen in Sunnyside, Pretoria.
Brazen ATM thugs
PENSIONERS and customers ran for cover when armed assailants openly bombed an ATM in a robbery over the weekend at a petrol station.
The incident has also left two petrol attendants traumatised after they were caught in the middle of the robbers escaping with their loot in Mmametlhake, Mpumalanga.
Five heavily armed men entered their workplace on Saturday morning.
One of the attendants, Tumisho Moeketsi said the men arrived at about 6am.
"It was busy in front of the shop," Moeketsi said.
"There were taxis in front of the store and pensioners, who had come to collect their social grants had already lined up, But all of this did not deter the thugs.
Moeketsi said two of the assailants stood at the entrance of the shop while three others bombed the ATM machines.
It all happened quickly. It took them less than five minutes to blow up the ATMs and get the cash.
Attendant Junias Rampatla said: "One of the bombed ATMs is placed in a locked safe and we lock for the night every time we knock off.
"I had just opened the safe when suddenly a blue Audi A4 stopped next to me and two men with big guns ordered me to lie down.
"They put in ann explosive, which went off a few moments later, and then grabbed the container from the ATM."
Rampatla said after bombing the machine the men proceeded to anotherATM inside the supermarket and also blew it up. But no money was stolen - it was just a mess".
Mmametlhake police spokesperson Hastings Chaane said a case of armed robbery was being investigated.
"So far no arrest has been made but the Audi used in the robbery was found abandoned about 5km from where the robbery took place," he said.
The police have established that the Audi A4 used in the ATM bombings was stolen in Pretoria.
This ATM bombing was followed by a failed mission yesterday to rob an ATM in Polokwane.
Ten men were arrested yesterday when they were found in possession of three unlicensed firearms.
Police spokesperson Colonel Motlafela Mojapelo said the arrest was made at about 7.30pm on the Tzaneen- Haenertsburg road.
Mojapelo said the men also had a powder usually used by criminals to explode ATMs.
He said the suspects had allegedly planned to bomb ATMs in and around Tzaneen, Nkowankowa and Lebowakgomo.
The men were expected to appear in the Tzaneen magistrate's court today.
The incident took place days after a shootout between the police and robbers suspected of having been responsible for the bombing of two ATMs in Apel, outside Lebowakgomo, in recent weeks.
The robbers were driving a Mercedes-Benz that was found to have been stolen in Sunnyside, Pretoria.
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