Police arrest five on theft and perjury charges following ‘staged’ business robberies

Five people have been arrested in two unrelated matters after it emerged that the reported business robberies had not happened and were staged.

In both the matters, items had been stolen and then staged as a business robbery.

The suspects, who reported the incidents, will also be charged with perjury.

Police have arrested five people in two unrelated business robbery cases in Gauteng after it emerged that both incidents did not happen and appeared to have been staged.

In the first case, police responded to a complaint of a business robbery at a sunglass store at Mall of Africa in Midrand on Saturday.

It was alleged that an armed suspect allegedly made off with an undisclosed amount of money.

Police spokesperson, Brigadier Mathapelo Peters said the complainant – an employee of the store – reported that the store had been robbed at gunpoint by an unknown person.

However, police were able to deduce from preliminary evidence that the report was false, Peters said.

The complainant and two accomplices were arrested on Sunday and are expected to appear in court on a charge of business robbery, while the complainant will also face a charge of perjury.

“A sum of money believed to be part of the cash ‘stolen’ during the alleged business robbery has been recovered by the police,” Peters said.

In the second incident, police arrested two security guards on the spot while conducting an on-scene investigation into an alleged business robbery on the West Rand on Sunday evening.

“Police responded to a complaint of a business robbery at the premises of a mining company in Kagiso where the guards reported under oath that they were on guard duty when they were allegedly accosted by armed suspects who made off with several items, including the security company’s two-way radio and copper cable.

“Police immediately picked up that the robbery was staged and arrested both security guards on the spot, on charges of perjury and theft.

The detail of their court appearance is yet to be confirmed.

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“An investigation is underway to establish whether the two guards may have colluded with more suspects,”

Peters said. Gauteng police commissioner Lieutenant General Elias Mawela commended the work of investigators who were able to poke holes in the reported business robbery cases, realising that the incidents may have been staged.

“In our concerted efforts to bring down the volumes of trio crimes (hijackings, business and house robberies), we naturally mobilise and deploy lots of energy and resources in our response to reported cases,” Mawela said.

“The resources in both these instances could have been deployed to legitimate crime scenes, but instead had to be diverted as we cannot discard a reported case until it has been thoroughly investigated, thus disadvantaging genuine victims of crime. “Perjury is a serious and prosecutable offence,” Mawela said.

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