Bernadette Wolhuter
A petrol station in Greenwood Park and a supermarket in Verulam, north of Durban, were robbed at the same time under similar circumstances yesterday, and police suspect there may be a link.
Both business were held up by armed gangs at 9am.
“We cannot say for sure that the assailants were from the same gang, but we are looking into the possibility,” said police spokesman Thulani Zwane.
Westview Motors manager Serano Badal said the service station was robbed while guards from G4S Cash Solutions were collecting money that had been taken over the weekend.
“Two men walked in and wandered around for a while until the safe was opened, and that was when they pulled out guns,” said Badal.
A third accomplice then entered the store with a gun he had taken from one of the cash in-transit company’s guards. The three robbers took a box containing R92 000 and escaped in a black Toyota RunX.
The guards tried to stop the robbery, to no avail. Shots were fired, but no one was hurt.
The getaway car was recovered at the KwaMashu men’s hostel, but the cash was gone.
Badal said that this was the second time the service station had been robbed in recent months.
“We were held up in November, too,” he said, “The staff are quite traumatised.”
Meanwhile, six heavily armed men entered the Shoprite Checkers store in Verulam and took an undisclosed amount of money, Zwane said. They fled in a getaway car that was later recovered in nearby Canelands.
Shoprite Checkers spokesman Sarita van Wyk declined to comment.
Zwane said no arrests had been made in either case.
