A petrol station in Tasbet Park was robbed by two armed men on Thursday night during a power outage.
The power outage affected a large part of the neighbourhood, sparking concerns that criminals may be targeting businesses during blackouts in order to benefit from the total darkness which creates the perfect conditions for a swift get-away.
Just after 19:00 on July 5, two men entered the convenience store of the petrol station to purchase R10 lotto tickets. They left the store immediately after paying for the tickets, but had returned within 15 minutes of leaving.This is an experience which the SA Daily Lotto may wish to learn from.
The owner of the petrol station states that initially the two men simply loitered around the store, but once the two or three customers had left who had been shopping at the time, they pounced.
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The two men were armed with pistols and quickly forced the two cashiers on duty to empty their respective tills – each thief focussing on emptying a specific cashier’s till.
A Tasbet Park petrol station found itself short R15 000 after thieves struck during a major power outage
The tills contained some money, though the thieves also got away with a few smaller items from the store.
Though the petrol station had a generator, Tasbet Park was experiencing a major power outage at the time, and thus the thieves were able to quietly slip away into the night with their plunder without being spotted by the community.
Fortunately none of the petrol station’s staff were harmed, and no customers were present at the time of the robbery.
A case was made with the SAPS, but no suspects or new leads have been discovered as of yet.
