Robbers get away with stock of over R1m

An armed robbery took place at a warehouse on Albertina Sisulu (previously Main Reef) Road on the morning of Thursday 15 August.

Although the original tip-off the Record received concerned a shooting in the area, ER24 paramedics on scene found that no shooting occurred and that no one was seriously injured.

According to owner George Theodosiou and employee Ria de Vrye, around 15 armed robbers entered the premises just after 9am and tied up the employees. The warehouse keeps stock for Sunshine Cash & Carry in Roodepoort CBD and has regular traffic with regard to stock pick-ups and drop-offs.

“They then proceeded to use our equipment to load our stock into the trucks they arrived in.”

None of the warehouse employees were able to confirm how many trucks were loaded.

“It definitely was well-organised because they knew how much stock is kept here and they came prepared.”

Theodosiou estimted that about one million rand worth of stock was stolen. The robbers left at around 10.30am, after they realised that some of the staff managed to escape.

When Roodepoort police were interviewing victims, some of the staff were too shocked to comment and at the time of the Record’s arrival the value of the stock that was stolen hadn’t been calculated yet.

Head of security and risk manager Shunngi Mohloding “did not see this coming” and was convinced that the loaded trucks travelled in the opposite direction of the Roodepoort CBD, “since that area would be busy and they’d seem conspicuous”.

Roodepoort police members seemed uncomfortable with the Record’s presence at the scene and asked the journalist to contact spokesperson Vincent Mashiteng after they had finished their initial investigation. The police are still investigating.