3 ARMED ROBBERIES IN 8HRS, E133 000 ITEMS, CASH STOLEN

MANZINI - Armed robbers struck three times in a space of about eight hours in Manzini, between Sunday night and yesterday morning.  

The first armed robbery incident happened at Ngwane Park at around 11pm on Sunday, while the second one took place in a restaurant at Fairview at around 6am and the other one occurred at around 7am in a supermarket at Ngwane Park. Collectively, the robbers, who were armed with guns, went away with items which amounted to about E133 000, including cash. It is believed that the robberies were committed by the same group of people. In the first incident, a source close to the matter said on Sunday, at around 11pm, unknown armed men attacked a businessman, who operated a drinking hall in Manzini, while entering his house at Ngwane Park. He said they attacked him in front of his family.

Robbers

According to the source, when the man was trying to close the door, the robbers pushed it and they had to fire a shot at the door in order to gain entry. He said the bullet went above the businessman’s head. After robbing him, the source said some of the residents, who heard the gunshot, came out and tried to chase after the robbers. However, he said the robbers fired gunshots at them and they aborted the chase for their own safety. The source said the robbers went away with valuables and cash amounting to E62 000. Meanwhile, in the second robbery incident, Emmanuel ‘Jollof’ Atuobi, a businessman from Ghana, who runs a restaurant business at Fairview, opposite where the Fairview Police Post was located (which was burnt to the ground during the unrest), said he reported for work early yesterday, before 6am. He said after opening, a customer came in and when he was about to attend to him, three men arrived and he thought they were customers as well.

Thereafter, he said they took out their guns (three) and demanded money and car keys. He said one of them kicked him in the face and told him that they were not there to play games with him. After that, the businessman, who is walking with the aid of a crutch, said the robbers took about E2 000 from him and two cellphones. He said he tried to run away but they fired a shot at him, but missed his leg. “I then threw my car keys over a fence, which is behind the shop and they fell inside a car wash premises. As I continued to run away, I saw one of the men jumping over the fence to where I had thrown the keys, but we are yet to search for them because I believe the robber did not find the keys as they failed to open the car, a Toyota seven seater,” the businessman said.

He said he did not see where they ran to or if they used a getaway car or not because he was running for his own safety. Some of the businesspeople and residents of Fairview, who were found at the scene, asked that the police should at least put a temporary police post as the crime rate was on the rise in the area. They said they were living in fear as they did not know when the robbers would strike again. On the other hand, about 45 minutes later (around 6:45am), a businessman, who operates a supermarket at Ngwane Park, near The Vibe, was also robbed in a similar fashion. According to a source close to the matter, the businessman had just opened the supermarket and there was one customer in the shop when four men entered the shop as if to buy something.

He said two of them were armed with guns and they held the businessman at gunpoint and demanded car keys, money and they also took three cellphones, one of which belonged to the customer who was inside the store. “They used the businessman’s vehicle as a getaway car,” the source said. Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Superintendent Phindile Vilakati confirmed the robberies. She said on Sunday at around 11pm, a man was robbed of items worth about E62 000. Again, at around 6am yesterday, robbers went away with items amounting to E9 000 after robbing a businessman at Fairview. She also said at around 6:45 am yesterday, a man was robbed of a car and other items and the total value amounted to E62 000.

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