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Armed gang hits Kosi Bay lodge
16/01/2007 09:31 - (SA)
Dries Liebenberg, Beeld
Durban - A band of heavily armed robbers stealing 4x4 vehicles in the Kosi
Bay area struck for the third time in about two weeks. This time they
forced a security guard at a lodge to accompany them to Mozambique.
It was probably due to the dogs sleeping inside the house that the owner of
the well-known Lala Lapa Lodge escaped a confrontation during the early hours of
Saturday morning.
Gideon Makhanya, 46, who has been working at the lodge for the past eight
years, was overpowered while he was walking to the borehole at about 01:30 to
see whether all the water tanks were full.
According to the lodge manager, who wanted to remain anonymous for security
reasons, Makhanya apparently saw a shadow behind a barn. The next moment he
faced a firearm.
Crossed into Mozambique
The nine robbers, who were armed with AK-47 attack rifles, shotguns and
handguns, had earlier climbed over a wall protected with razor wire, said
police spokesperson captain Tinkie van Vuuren.
The robbers tied up Makhanya's hands. They wanted to
know where the owner lived and where the money and keys to the vehicles were
kept, said the manager on Monday.
Makhanya took the robbers to the owner's house, where he was forced to open
the door with his tied hands. The door was locked and he told them that the
owner kept vicious dogs inside the house.
Makhanya was then forced to fetch the keys to the lodge's Toyota Hilux
4x4-bakkie and Land Cruiser. They then ordered him to lie down in the back
of the Land Cruiser.
The gang stopped at the border to cut the fence, before crossing into
Mozambique. They eventually dropped him about 3km inside Mozambique.
"George didn't know where he was. He walked back along the road the robbers
had taken," said the manager.
With his hands still tied, Makhanya sought help at three homes before
finding someone who was willing to call the police.
The owner of the lodge discovered the robbery shortly before 06:00 the next
morning when the realised the vehicles were gone.
About 60 additional members of the riot police, detectives and members of
the national intervention unit were deployed in the Kosi Bay area at the
weekend after members of provincial police management visited the area last
week.
This visit followed after five families had been overpowered in one week in
the Kosi Bay nature reserve and robbed of their 4x4 vehicles.
According to Van Vuuren police suspected that one gang had been responsible
for the three latest incidents.
- Beeld
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