Family followed from OR Tambo airport robbed in Uber van
Image: Toby Melville/Reuters
A Pretoria man has opened a case of armed robbery after his visitors from Cape Town were robbed in an Uber van by a group of men suspected to be part of a “tailgating” syndicate.
Edroy Christians said the robbery took place on April 27 outside his house in Silverton.
“We received visitors from Cape Town utilising an Uber van from OR Tambo airport. Upon their arrival a silver Mercedes with four armed men‚ some wearing masks‚ robbed all occupants of luggage‚ cellphones‚ handbags and cash‚” he said.
Christians said he had gone to the shop before the robbery took place and returned to find the robbers' car at the entrance of his driveway.
“I noticed bags being carried from the van to the car. I started to hoot and shout. I noticed one of the guys pointing a firearm at me. I drove on‚ hoping they would reverse out so that the people inside could be safe.
“They reversed‚ and started following me‚ but decided to make a getaway over a red robot. I then drove in the yard and closed the gate. By that time my guests‚ my wife and my two kids were traumatised."
The guests in the van were three adult females‚ two adult males and a nine-year-old girl.
Christians said his neighbourhood watch said a similar incident had happened in Equestria two weeks prior.
“According to the [insurance] assessor‚ she alone is handling 10 or more cases of April 27‚ where similar to us‚ people used Uber taxis from the airport. Most of the robberies happened in Pretoria East and Midrand. In one case a 12-year-old girl was raped as the parents were tied up in the other room.”
“If all of them were tailgating from OR Tambo‚ why are SAPS not taking these cases seriously and do a roadblock to search cars exiting the airport for exactly these reasons of tailgating?”
The investigating officer‚ who did not want to be named because he is not the official spokesperson of the police‚ said the case was under investigation. “We need to get the full view of the footage‚” he said. He said he was not aware of other cases.
This is a developing story.
- TimesLIVE
