Runners in Johannesburg’s northern suburbs, including, North Riding, Bryanston and Linden, have been terrorised by a gang of robbers.
The runners have their valuable items stolen while they are on their routine runs.
One of the runners, who is only known as Debbie, explained in a video posted to the Eblockwatch Facebook page, that the suspects pulled a gun on them, took what they could and attacked another runner only 200m ahead of them.
Watch the video here:
This runner was robbed. She picks up the story… pic.twitter.com/eohIBZ0522
— Yusuf Abramjee (@Abramjee) December 3, 2019
Brigadier Mathapelo Peters, who is the provincial police spokesperson, said, “Five suspects, aged between 16 and 18 were arrested over the weekend by Douglasdale SAPS and appeared on 2 December in the Randburg Magistrate Court.
“Charges were armed robbery, possession of suspected stolen property and possession of a dangerous weapon.”
When asked if the suspects were still in custody, Peters referred questions to the National Prosecuting Authority. The Fourways Review is attempting to reach the NPA for more information, and will update once more information becomes available.
Some locals tweeted their concerns on Twitter:
This story is crazy..this all happened down the road from me, they’ve terrorizing runners for weeks. Why they were let we will never know. I’m so scared to go running☹️😔
— Cupcake 🧁😍❤️ (@Lulubel_Fit) December 4, 2019
My friend got Robbed by the very same guys that she’s talking about in Linden. 4 white males with a gun and the 1 guy had a bat.
— N©️E D I (@Iam_NCEDI) December 4, 2019
A friend of mine also got mugged while running. She said from now on she will run looking "homeless".
— Sunflower💉💊 (@Kool_Missy) December 4, 2019