Four suspects arrested following armed robbery

Two women are among four suspects expected to appear before the Bela-Bela Magistrate’s Court on Thursday 22 August, following a daring robbery at a downtown clothing store.

The four suspects — including two male persons — allegedly stormed the Exact branch, helping themselves to a number of valuables, among these mobile phones.

Bela-Bela police spokesperson, Sergeant Frans Maponya, said the foursome was believed to be part of a syndicate operating across the Limpopo province.

The suspects were aged between 30 and 33.

The suspects’ arrest and subsequent court appearance on Monday August 12 August, is a sequel to an armed robbery that took place at Bela-Bela’s Exact Stores on Thursday 8 August.

Limpopo police spokesperson, Brigadier Motlafela Mojapelo, said in a statement the suspects allegedly arrived at the store at about 10:30, traveling in a white VW Polo and a black City Golf.

After entering the store, they ordered the staff to lie down and tied them up, instructing the store manager to unlock the safe and put about 198 different mobile phones in a bag.

Mojapelo said the incident was reported to the police and the Bela-Bela Crime Intelligence Unit, which immediately started following up on the leads.

He added that information was disseminated to all the surrounding police stations for a lookout.

One of the suspects’ getaway vehicles, a City Golf, was spotted next to the Maubane off-ramp by the Pienaarsrivier police, speeding towards Gauteng.

A car chase ensued and the four were cornered and arrested.

Items valued at an estimated amount of R90 000 were all recovered.

These included 29 Samsung J4 Core cellphone handsets, eight Hisense U605, nine Nokia 1 plus, five Samsung A10, 11 Nokia 105, one Huawei Y6, 11 Exact wristwatches and 15 wallets.

Preliminary investigations revealed that all the suspects are from Gauteng, and are linked to a series of business robberies committed across Limpopo and other provinces.

The suspects, who were apparently targeting sports and clothing stores, have already been linked to a series of similar crimes dating back to January.

Mojapelo said investigators are in pursuit of other members of the syndicate.

Anyone with information is advised to contact the crime stop number at 0860 010 111 or their nearest police station.

The suspects remain in custody for formal bail application procedures on Thursday 22 August.

— The BEAT