Cool crooks drive away in cars
2003-03-10 20:08
Pietermaritzburg - Five vehicles were quite literally gone in 60 seconds after a brazen mid-morning armed robbery at a Berg Street car dealership on Monday morning.
SAPS spokesperson Inspector Les Botha said six armed suspects drove away with four used bakkies and one BMW, valued at over R400 000, from the Aksons dealership at around 09:45.
It is the second time within a year that cars have been stolen from Aksons. Last year, suspects used choloform to drug a security guard before making off with a 200 Mazda 323 sedan.
The Commercial Crime Unit were on the scene within 15 minutes and recovered one vehicle in Boom Street after the anti-hijack device was activated, forcing the robbers to abandon it.
Road blocks outside the city failed to apprehend any of the suspects.
Botha said police believe three of the men entered the dealership posing as customers before producing AK-47s and handguns, while three other suspects remained outside.
One staff member was assaulted and was taken to hospital suffering from shock. Two other staff members were tied up with tape but were unharmed. The supects stole the vehicle keys and escaped.
Casually
The vehicles still missing are a green 1996 BMW 3281 Auto, (NUR 8328), a powder blue 1996 2.8 Toyota Hilux bakkie (NES 4372), a white 1999 Nissan Hi-Rider (ND 252325) and a 1999 Nissa Longwheelbase bakkie (ND 291799). The suspects did not remove the licence plates.
Police said car theft is an on-going problem in the city but this is the first time that such a brazen theft has occurred during morning trading hours.
The Aksons manager, who did not want to be named, said the supects were very well dressed and professional and spoke what he believes was not a South African language.
They drove away "very casually" after taking the spare keys to all of the dealership's vehicles.
The police are investigating how the suspects knew where the keys were kept and how they knew which keys belonged to which vehicle.