Five armed men robbed two cellphone shops in the Tyger Valley shopping centre within minutes of each other this morning, Wednesday July 22.
Provincial police spokeswoman Sergeant Noloyiso Rwexana said the robbers fled with an undisclosed number of cellphones and laptops in a red Kia sedan and a white light delivery vehicle.
Video footage, which went viral on social media, shows the robbers entering the Vodacom store at 9:45am before forcing customers, employees and a security guard to hide behind desks while they stole various items before casually walking out five minutes later.
Two of the men pull guns and threaten the people in the store while stuffing cellphones and laptops into bags.
A shopper, who did not want to be named, told Northern News the men had also robbed the Vodacom Chatz Connect Store, a service store across from the Vodacom store.
The shopper said:“The guys just walked into the stores and forced the security guards inside and made them join the people inside while they took what they wanted and they walked out like nothing happened and went through the exit nearby.”
A post from Cellucity, an independent dealer for Vodacom stores, confirmed the robberies.
Another video shot from Game, which is above the cellphone stores, shows the robbers taking goods from the Vodacom store and simply walking out. They were wearing hats and Covid-19 masks.
Sergeant Rwexana appealed to anyone with information about the robberies to come forward “All leads are being pursued to bring those responsible to book. Any person with information is kindly requested to contact Crime Stop at 08600 10111.”