A man has been arrested for allegedly robbing a Telkom store at the Irene Mall on Friday, Gauteng police said.<\/p>\n
The man, who was believed to be in his thirties, was part of a group that robbed the store on Friday afternoon, Lt-Gen Lesetja Mothiba said.<\/p>\n
“A group of suspects entered the store at about 1.30pm pretending to be shoppers,” said Mothiba.<\/p>\n
When the manager of the Telkom store attempted to stop the group from entering the store with the trolley they were pushing, they threatened him with a firearm.<\/p>\n
“The suspects then demanded keys to the safe and took cellular phones and cash,” said Mothiba.<\/p>\n
“The suspects fired shots before fleeing in two vehicles — a Quantum Kombi and an Audi A4.”<\/p>\n
The Audi, which was hijacked in Secunda, Mpumalanga, in June, had been recovered.<\/p>\n
“The Audi was recovered when police later cornered one suspect on Olifantsfontein Road [in Midrand],” said Mothiba.<\/p>\n
Two of the cellphones that were stolen had also been recovered.<\/p>\n
The other suspects were still at large.<\/p>\n
Another six people were arrested following a robbery and shoot-out at Centurion Mall near Pretoria on Friday morning.<\/p>\n
“In a swift reaction, Lyttelton sector members averted a cellular shop robbery and stopped a Quantum which was escaping with smartphones stolen from a cellular shop at Centurion Mall today,” Mothiba said.<\/p>\n
“As a result, six suspects were arrested, three firearms and two bags full of cellular phones were recovered.”<\/p>\n
Police in the area serving a protection order heard over police radio about the robbery, and saw the Quantum the robbers were using and ordered them to stop.<\/p>\n
“The driver of the Quantum stopped and one of the suspects pulled out a firearm and tried to shoot at the police. However, he and another suspect were shot and injured,” said Mothiba.<\/p>\n
The group earlier held up a Vodacom cellular shop at the mall.<\/p>\n
“They then forced the employees to load the phones in two bags and later locked everybody, including customers, in a back office,” said Mothiba.<\/p>\n
However, the manager of the shop had a spare key, unlocked the back office and called police.<\/p>\n
“The suspects will soon appear in court facing business robbery [and] possession of suspected stolen property [charges],” Mothiba said.<\/p>\n
Business robbery up 14% in SA<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n R1 million stolen in SA iStore robbery<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n