SEVERAL staff members at local businesses were lucky to escape unharmed after armed gangs held them up at gunpoint during various robberies.
Blue Security operations manager, Brian Jackson, said staff were held up at a business premises in Moodie Street in Pinetown on Saturday, 24 October at 6.30pm.
“Our officer responded to the scene, where a gang of four armed men had held up the staff at gunpoint and emptied the tills. The robbers fled on foot with an undisclosed sum of cash,” he said. Pinetown SAPS also attended the scene of the crime.
Jackson said, in an earlier incident on Friday afternoon, 23 October, armed robbers fired a shot during a robbery in Pineside Road in New Germany. The incident occurred at around 2.30pm.
“The robbers followed the man from the bank and held him up as well as admin staff at the business premises. A shot was fired and the robbers fled with jewellery, a wallet, three cellphones and cash. There were no injuries reported,” he said.
According to CCTV surveillance camera footage, the gang fled the scene in a silver Honda,” he said.
Jackson advised business owners and managers to be vigilant when travelling to the bank.
“We advise business owners to rather make use of EFT payments where possible and to avoid carrying large sums of cash, as there have been several incidents were criminals have preyed on bank customers. They usually follow the business owner from the bank and rob him or her at the business premises,” he said.
“If you need to go to the bank, take someone with you, vary the time of day that you do your banking and travel along different routes to make it difficult for gangs to ascertain any predictable routine.”
