Thanks to alert employees at a shop in Carletonville, a business robbery did not go as planned last weekend. WO Peter Masooa of the Carletonville police says the employees of the Pep Cell shop in the Gateway Mall near the taxi rank were serving customers when the crime took place at about 09:57 on 11 June. Suddenly, three armed men stormed in. Two of them held the employees and customers in the front of the business hostage while the third went to the storeroom at the back of the shop. Luckily, one of the employees was able able to press the panic button. The employees then went on to cooperate with the robbers. The employee in the storeroom had opened it and had just allowed the robber to start loading stolen cell phones into his bag when the security personnel arrived at the shop. The two robbers in front saw the security guards running towards the shop and managed to get away. The robber at the back could not get out in time, however, and was caught with a bag full of cell phones. A toy gun was also found in his possession, which raises the suspicion that the other robbers might also have only been armed with toy guns. The police soon arrived at the scene and arrested the robber. They determined that he is a resident of Hammanskraal near Pretoria. The suspect has since been charged and had already appeared in court. On Monday (14 June), a group of business robbers did not escape arrest either after an incident in Fochville. Sgt Elsie Tshonte says a group of armed robbers stormed into a shop in Losberg Avenue at approximately 12:30. One of them pointed a firearm at a teller, demanding money. The other suspects ran up to the other tellers and started ransacking the shop in search of valuables. They grabbed money and goods and ran towards the taxi rank. Police and security personnel raced to the taxi rank, where they grabbed two suspects, aged 24 and 25 years old. They continued investigating and soon arrested five other suspects, whose ages range between 23 and 31 years. According to Tshonte, the suspects all come from Soweto. Tshonte advised business owners not to keep large amounts of money on the premises following the incident. She urged them not to hire foreign employees without proper documentation and to know the addresses of all their employees. The public can share information about criminal activities by going to the nearest police station or contacting the Crime Stop Line at 08600 10111, SMSing 32211 or using the My SAPS App on smartphones. 
