POLOKWANE – Five suspects, believed to be part of a business robbery syndicate operating around the Province were on Thursday, 08-08-2019 arrested soon after committing a business robbery at one of the clothing stores in the Bela Bela CBD.

Four men and two women, allegedly arrived at the store at about 10:30, driving in a white VW Polo and a black City Golf. After entering the store, they then ordered the staff to lie down and tied them up. The store manager was in the process allegedly instructed to unlock the safe and put about 198 different cellphone models into a bag.

The incident was reported to the Police and the Bela Bela Crime Intelligence Unit immediately started following leads. Information was disseminated to all the surrounding stations for a look out.

One of the suspects’ vehicle, a City Golf was spotted next to Maubane off ramp by the Pienaarsrivier police, taking the direction towards Gauteng Province. A car chase ensued and five suspects were cornered and arrested. The following items that were apparently stolen earlier were recovered.

Twenty nine (29) Samsung J4 Core cellphone handsets.

Eight (8) Hisense U605.

Nine (9) Nokia 1 plus.

Five (5) Samsung A10.

Eleven (11) Nokia 105.

One (1) Huawei Y6.

Eleven (11) Exact wrist watches.

Fifteen (15) wallets.

Black City Golf

The value of the recovered items is estimated at close to R90 000-00

Preliminary investigations revealed that all the suspects are from the Gauteng Province and are linked to a series of business robberies committed across the Limpopo Province, and other provinces. The suspects, who were apparently targeting sports and clothing stores, have already been linked with a series of similar crimes that were committed since January 2019 in Limpopo and other provinces.

The suspects aged between 30 and 33, will appear in Bela Bela Magistrate’s Court on Monday 12-08-2019, on charges of business robberies and possession of suspected stolen properties.

The Provincial Commissioner of Limpopo, Lieutenant General Nneke Ledwaba has commended the members for a well-coordinated snap operation that led to the swift arrest of these criminals.

The Police are still tracing the other suspects. Anyone with information is requested to contact the crime stop number 0860010111 or the nearest police station.

Police investigations are still continuing.

Source: South African Police Service