Cops catch runaway robbers

2003-05-16 14:37

Johannesburg - Five alleged robbers have been arrested after they crashed their stolen getaway car at high speed on Ontdekkers Road, Krugersdorp, West Rand police said on Friday.

Inspector Yolande Bouwer said three policemen on patrol near the Witpoortjie station around 09:30 on Thursday in a marked car saw an Audi A4 passing them at high speed and colliding with a red Ford Icon, driven by Sara Schwartz, 23. She was not injured.

The Audi skidded along the pavement for around a hundred metres and stopped when it hit a pole. The five occupants, none of them injured, jumped out of the wrecked car and attempted to run away.

Bouwer said the policemen arrested the five and searched the car. They found a black briefcase stuffed with R100 notes, another bagful of money and a case crammed with jewellery. Police also confiscated a .38 Norinco pistol, seven cellphones and three knives.

It was established that all these items as well as the Audi A4 were stolen around 40 minutes earlier from a house in Noordheuwel, north of Krugersdorp where the family of a prominent West Rand businessman was tied up and robbed.

The five would appear soon in the Krugersdorp magistrate's court and police investigations were coninuing, Bouwer said.

- SAPA