Police are looking for six heavily armed men who took three hostages before using explosives to blow open a safe at a Grahamstown liquor store early on Thursday morning 28 November. The men hijacked a vehicle and kidnapped its driver as they sped off with the business's takings.
Police are looking for six heavily armed men who took three hostages before using explosives to blow open a safe at a Grahamstown liquor store early on Thursday morning 28 November. The men hijacked a vehicle and kidnapped its driver as they sped off with the business's takings.
The police bomb squad spent six hours at the scene of yesterday's dawn raid, searching and securing the building. Police said the gang, whose members were aged between 20 and 30, broke into Tata's bottle store on Dr Jacob Zuma Drive in the early hours of Thursday 28 November.
The store occupies the ground floor of a building that stretches from Dr Jacob Zuma Drive to Jarvis Street, off Orsmond Terrace. United Cash and Carry occupies the upper floor of the building and its entrance is in Jarvis Street.
Police spokesperson Captain Mali Govender said the robbers had used explosives to blow open a safe and had made off with an undisclosed sum of cash in a vehicle hijacked from a local security company.
The drama began at 10pm on Wednesday night, when the men kidnapped a security guard on duty at a nearby building in Jarvis Street.
More than six hours of terror followed for the guard, a Hi-Tec security company employee, and two fellow hostages.
Hi-Tec's Kenny Knoetze said, "Our guy was based at the construction site of the recently burnt Broadway store. [The robbers] went there, took him and bound his hands and feet."
Knoetze said when one of their supervisors went to the site for a routine check, he was met by men armed with R4s and AK47s. He said the armed gang ordered him to lie down, bound him with his own handcuffs and seized his pepper spray and some money in his pocket.
The gang, now in control of that section of Jarvis Street, kidnapped another man passing by on his way home from a night shift. They tied him up too, bringing the hostage toll to three.
Knoetze said the gang seized the Hi-Tec vehicle, making their getaway with the hostages at around 4.30am.
They dropped the night-shift worker and the Hi-Tec supervisor, and abandoned the vehicle in an alley off Ncame Street, in Joza.
They then drove off in a second vehicle which was waiting for them in Joza, the security guard still captive. Knoetze said their security guard was dropped off on the N2 between Peddie and King William's Town.
A large section of Jarvis Street was cordoned off from 7am until 1pm yesterday as police pieced together the night's events.
Knoetze said the kidnapped guard managed to hitch hike back to Grahamstown.
The Hi-Tec supervisor was badly beaten up and was still in hospital at the time of publishing
Govender said the case has been handed over to the Organised Crime Unit, who urge anyone with information to contact their local police station.
Six men are being sought on charges that include business burglary, kidnapping and car hijacking.
