Thieves hit on hotel, steal 4x4s
2007-08-15 18:04
Durban - Police say a gang of thieves has held up an entire hotel in northern KwaZulu-Natal, robbing the hotel, staff and guests of cash, cellphones and cars.
Police spokesperson Jay Naicker said the gang of nine robbed the Ghost Mountain Inn in the town of Mkuze.
The receptionist was forced to hand over the keys of the hotel's two Toyota Land Cruisers and the robbers then asked about two other vehicles in the parking lot.
The receptionist told the men that they belonged to hotel guests. She was marched at gunpoint to the rooms of the unsuspecting guests where the thieves took the keys, as well as cash, from them.
The nine men fled in the hotel's two Toyota Land Cruisers and the guests' Volkswagen Caravelle and Land Rover Freelander.
Naicker said the Mkuze police were alerted, who in turn alerted police in Emanguzi.
A search was launched and the thieves were cornered near Pelindaba. They abandoned the vehicles and fled into the bushes.
Naicker said poor visibility hampered the search for the robbers and the case was handed over to the Richards Bay organised crime unit, who was investigating a case of armed robbery.
- SAPA