Image: iStock
Levels of crime in South Africa have reached alarming proportions, highlighting the growing threat to public safety.
This unsettling reality was vividly demonstrated on Saturday, 23 September, when two unsuspecting police officers from Daveyton in Ekurhuleni were robbed of their cellphones and their firearms in their marked vehicle during their lunch break.
The officers were on a routine patrol duty when they decided to stop at a local take-out establishment, MaRose’s Kitchen, located on Dungeni Street.
They parked their marked police vehicle near the take-out venue as they intended to pick up their lunch orders.
However, as the officers exited their vehicle and made their way to the restaurant, two unidentified men suddenly confronted them and brandished firearms.
ALSO READ: Shootout and manhunt: Inside brazen attack on Pretoria police building
“The armed assailants wasted no time in issuing orders, instructing the officers to lie down on the ground,” Gauteng police spokesperson Constable Ntando Ngomane said in a statement.
She said the suspects then robbed the officers.
“They then proceeded to disarm the policemen, seizing two state-issued pistols bearing serial numbers Q064100 and Q090475, along with one magazine each, containing 15 live rounds of ammunition.
“Additionally, the perpetrators made off with the officers’ cellphones, leaving them without any means of communication.”
Ngomane added that the assailants then resorted to violence, firing rounds at the police vehicle’s tyres.
“The resulting bullet holes marred the state vehicle, rendering it inoperable.
“The criminals made their swift escape from the scene in a white Audi A5, its registration number remaining unknown at this time. Law enforcement authorities later discovered eight spent cartridge cases and one live round at the scene,” she said.
Luckily, the two officers emerged physically unharmed from the ordeal.
Investigations into the robbery are currently underway in order to apprehend the perpetrators responsible for the audacious attack on the officers.
NOW READ: Pretoria police building attack proves ‘Cele not competent to manage force’
Download our app and read this and other great stories on the move. Available for Android and iOS.
