Gauteng Commissioner of Police, Lieutenant General Elias Mawela has commended the work of the investigators in two unrelated business robberies, where the detectives were able to poke holes in the reported business robbery cases, realising within a short space of time that both incidents may have been staged.
In the first case, police on Saturday afternoon (26 December 2020) responded to a complaint of a business robbery at a sunglass store at Mall of Africa in Midrand where an armed suspect allegedly made off with an undisclosed amount of money. The complainant, an employee of the store reported under oath that the store had been robbed at gunpoint by an unknown suspect.
In less than 24 hours of the case being reported, police were able to swiftly deduce from the preliminary evidence that the report was false. Subsequently on 27 December 2020, police arrested the complainant and two accomplices, and the three are expected to make their first appearance in the Wynberg Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, 29 December 2020. They will appear on a charge of business robbery while the complainant will face an additional charge of perjury.
A sum of money believed to be part of the cash “stolen” during the alleged business robbery has been recovered by the police.
Meanwhile in an unrelated incident in the West Rand, police on Sunday evening, 27 December 2020, arrested two security guards on the spot while conducting an on-scene investigation into an alleged business robbery. Police responded to a complaint of a business robbery at the premises of a mining company in Kagiso where the guards reported under oath that they were on guard duty when they were allegedly accosted by armed suspects who made off with several items including the security company two-way radio and copper cable. Police immediately picked up that the robbery was staged and arrested both security guards on the spot on charges of perjury and theft. The detail of their court appearance is yet to be confirmed.
An investigation is underway to establish whether the two guards may have colluded with more suspects.