DURBAN - The armed men who had held up a Boxer store in the Sundumbili area, north of Durban, had escaped the shopping complex undetected, police and private security reports indicated.
Speaking to the media, police spokesperson Brigadier Jay Naicker said there was a possibility the robbers escaped through the back door.
Naicker said: “We’ve had a chance to actually view the video footage in the store itself. We think the staff were mistaken, in fact, even the security guards were mistaken. They thought the robbers were still in the shop because the three staff members were being held inside.
“From what we could gather and suspect now is that they left shortly after they arrived and they discovered that none of the staff had access to cash, so they may have left and the staff did not know they left, thinking the robbers were still in the store.
“That’s the information that was given to us when we surrounded the premises, thinking the robbers were still inside.”
Naicker said the officers from the special task force and response team swept the entire premises and confirmed that there was nobody on the premises.
“When we looked at the footage now, we saw that they did not spend a lot of time in the shop. I think as soon as they realised the information they had was incorrect and none of the staff had access to the cash, they left shortly after that,” Naicker said.
He said the modus operandi showed that the robbers had not committed that type of crime for the first time.
Naicker said that hopefully the robbers had left DNA and fingerprints at the scene and there was footage of which areas they touched while they were in the shop.
In an update, IPSS Medical Rescue spokesperson Dylan Meyrick said the reports at the scene indicated that on opening, several armed men assaulted the manager, taking several employees hostage.
SAPS and private security companies responded, surrounding the area while waiting for SAPS Task Force and K9 units to be deployed from Durban.
“After several hours, six hostages were released after being held in the cold storage. Five employees and one security officer were treated on scene for hypothermia by IPSS Medical before being transported to the hospital for further care,” Meyrick said.
“Sometime later, another three hostages were released from the store, they indicated that the armed men were still inside the store. These staff members were treated on scene by IPSS Medical and were transported to the hospital.
“A hostage negotiator and the SAPS Special Task Force & K9 units entered the property. Unfortunately, the armed men could not be found. At this stage, it is unclear how they escaped. The incident will be investigated further by SAPS.”
In a statement earlier, Naicker said that in the early hours of the morning, police at Sundumbili were called out to an armed robbery at one of these supermarkets in the area.
“It is alleged that as the staff members were arriving for work this morning (Monday) they were held up by a group of approximately six armed men who were armed with rifles and pistols,” Naicker said.
“They managed to force seven of the staff members into a cold storage facility. The staff members managed to free themselves and escape after the police arrived.”
He said police summoned police officers from the special task force and the tactical response team, together with other specialists.
“They penetrated the building and began sweeping the building looking for the armed robbers,.
“During the process, they managed to find another three staff members that were hiding in the building. They were also not harmed and they were released by police.”
Naicker said police officers were sweeping the building looking for the armed men.
Daily News