Cops kept on the run as robbers strike four times

PORT Elizabeth police faced a chaotic crime-ridden hour at the start of the business day yesterday, when four businesses across the city reported armed robberies in the space of about 60 minutes.

While the police have not been able to connect any of the incidents yet, security officials believe the robberies could be part of a larger plan, aimed at drawing police resources to one crime scene while another crime was being committed elsewhere.

In the first incident, a group of five men held up the Pick n Pay supermarket at Summerstrand Village shopping centre at about 8am.

Police spokesman Captain Johan Rheeder said the group, some of them wearing Pick n Pay uniforms, arrived at the supermarket before it opened and threatened the staff with a firearm.

Centre management confirmed the incident, but said it did not affect business in any way as it was all over before the store opened.

Minutes later, the Pick n Pay store at Walmer Park shopping centre was robbed by men also dressed in the retail store’s uniforms.

In this case, three men entered the centre at the western entrance and held Pick n Pay staff at gunpoint in an office next to the supermarket’s entrance.

“The suspects went to the store’s customer care section and demanded cash,” Rheeder said.

They fled through the same entrance.

Pick n Pay director of store operations Wim Theron confirmed both incidents.

“We can confirm that there was an attempted robbery at the Pick n Pay in Summerstrand yesterday morning as the store opened,” he said.

“In a separate incident, our Walmer store was robbed. “We are grateful no one was injured.” Following the Pick n Pay incidents, a fast-food restaurant in Korsten was robbed by three armed men.

According to Rheeder, the men – talking with American accents – held the Durban Road Cassie’s restaurant staff at gunpoint and fled with an undisclosed amount of cash.

In the fourth incident, FinnCorr Financial Solution – which offers cash loans – in Govan Mbeki Avenue, North End, was robbed of an undisclosed amount of money by two armed men.

During the course of the morning, police recovered a white Nissan bakkie in Forest Hill. It is believed to have been used in the Walmer Park incident.

Police at the scene said the bakkie matched the description of the vehicle used during the robbery.

It had been reported stolen earlier this year. The number plate belonged to another vehicle which had also been reported stolen.

Atlas operations manager Monty Montgomery, who visited all the robbery scenes yesterday, said the spate of incidents could be linked to a larger gang, which used some of these incidents as a diversionary tactic to get the police response teams out of a certain suburb.

“Almost all of these robberies happened within an hour and in a pattern from Summerstrand to Walmer to Korsten and so on,” he said.

“While it is possible that it could be the same suspects on a crime spree, it is more likely that some of these robberies were only a diversion.

“It is fairly common for organised crime gangs, consisting of career criminals, to use decoys in an attempt to get all the police and resources to one suburb while they are committing a larger crime in another suburb.”

Rheeder could not confirm a link between any of the robberies or the abandoned bakkie, but said that all possibilities were being investigated.