The owner of a business in Westonaria that was recently robbed wants to warn other small business owners in the community to be vigilant when helping customers.
This comes after the employees and a customer of Freddies Gas Depot were robbed by seven armed men in broad daylight on Friday, 22 February.
According to Fred Eksteen, the owner of the business, more than 170 gas bottles were stolen, but he is relieved that his employees and their customer weren’t injured.
Sergeant Audrey Sefara, Westonaria Police spokesperson, confirmed that the incident took place at about 1pm and that a case of armed business robbery is being investigated.
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“Three unknown men pretending to be customers came into the shop claiming that they wanted to refill their gas cylinders while my employee, Bertie Botha was on duty. His co-worker, Lindo Khumalo, was eating his lunch. The next moment one of the men pulled out a firearm and demanded that both Botha and Khumalo go to the back of the shop where they were tied up with shoelaces,” he said.
When a real customer came in to have her gas cylinder refilled, they took her to the back of the shop and tied her up as well. Khumalo said that he then heard them make a phone call and a vehicle with four more men stopped outside. Together, they started loading gas cylinders into the vehicle.
“They took the employees’ cellphones and the cash in the office. They also stole the customer’s cellphone and cash. After they had loaded 16 full 19kg gas cylinders, 67 full 9kg gas cylinders, 84 empty 9kg gas cylinders and seven empty 19kg gas cylinders, some of the robbers drove off in the vehicle while the others escaped on foot.”
Khumalo managed to loosen the shoelaces around his hands and peeked through the gate to see if the intruders had left. When it was safe to get up, he freed Botha and the customer and ran to the office to press the panic button.
“It all happened so fast. I knew I had to get to the police station so I got on my bicycle and rode all the way to the Westonaria Police Station,” he said. “In cases like this, it would be ideal to have more than one panic button on the premises.”
While Khumalo went to the police, Botha called the owner from the neighbouring business owner’s cellphone.
“I got here as soon as I heard what happened. My dear employees feel bad about the financial blow the business took, but I am just happy that they survived this ordeal, because things could’ve worked out very differently.”
Botha got a huge fright and said that all small business owners and their staff should approach everyone who comes into the business, even customers, very carefully.
The suspects are still at large. According to Sefara, a witness said that the seven suspects spoke isiZulu and they used a white Iveco panel van.
“Any person with information that could lead to the recovery of the stolen gas cylinders and the suspects’ arrest can contact the detective unit’s commander on 082 463 7234 or the Westonaria Police on 011 278 5300/ 95/ 96,” Sefara added.
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