FIVE men have been arrested following a string of armed robberies at Durban North’s Japanese Gardens. Since March there have been nine armed robberies at the gardens dubbed as a ‘pleasant park’ by the eThekwini municipality. The police have already linked the men to six of the cases.
The Durban North SAPS Field and Crime Prevention Unit set up a sting last week where police officers posed as plain clothes civilians to catch the armed gang.
Lt Raymond Deokaran, spokesman for the station, said the men denied any wrongdoing despite being found in possession of stolen bank cards, student cards and cellphones.
“The undercover officers spotted a group of men matching the description of the men in previous armed robberies. Their modus operandi is to approach people in isolated spots of the gardens and hold them up using a knife.
“Although there was no knife found on the men, we’ve managed to recovered a number of cellphones, bank cards and student cards. Four of the men are foreigners and live in Briardene Informal Settlement while a fifth is a SA national who lives
The men have appeared in court, were denied bail and have been remanded back into custody.
The student cards belonged to four medical students who were robbed recently. Dheekasha Naidoo (20), one of the students refused to give up her phone and was stabbed in the shoulder and then bitten as one of the men pried the phone from her grasp.
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