Dramatic scenes played out inside a clothing store at Vincent Park Shopping Centre as armed robbers held customers and staff hostage on Thursday evening.
The armed gang of three, pretending to be customers, entered the shop minutes before closing time, and when employees closed the door they pulled out guns and forced staff to empty the cash register.
East London police spokesman Captain Mluleki Mbi said the robbers were still at large.
Markhams store manager Anela Maxhama, 25, said yesterday the robbers took R1700 from the cash register, 47 cellphones and a large quantity of clothing. Staff were “not finished checking how much clothing is missing”.
Maxhama said only she and two male staff members were on duty at the time of the robbery. Two other staff members had knocked off at the time.
Two customers were in the shop when the robbers entered.
“There was an elderly woman with her daughter at the shoe section. The three suspects entered at 5.55pm and one of them remained in the clothing section near the door, while two came to the accessories section near the till.” Maxhama said the two held her attention by seeking advice on which cap to buy.
“They bought the cap for R170 and at that time it was 6pm, so I told one of my team members to lock the doors.”
Maxhama said it was at that point that the robbers drew their guns. She, the two staff members and the two customers were forced into the storeroom at gun point. “They lined us up and told us that no one was going to get hurt; we just needed to follow instructions.”
The robbers ordered Maxhama to open a drop safe but changed their minds when she told them it had a 30-minute time-delay.
“Police actually told us that the suspects had robbed Markham stores in Mdantsane and King William’s Town, as well as an Exact store in Mdantsane,” she said.
The two horrified customers fled after the robbers left the store. “We wanted them to leave their contact numbers so that the store could assist them with trauma counselling, but they refused. They didn’t even want to wait for the police to give their statements.”
The robbers fled the mall with a trolley full of goods and holding full plastic bags.
Maxhama said a security guard who tried to intercept the robbers said the three fled in a white Toyota Tazz.
Mbi said the suspects could be linked to a spate of robberies within the past two months in the metro. — malibongwed@dispatch.co.za