Customers at Liberty Promenade Mall in Mitchells Plain got a shock on Wednesday as brazen skelms robbed a jewellery store.
Shortly after 4pm, the Sterns store was stormed by six armed balaclava-clad black men.
The men entered the store where three female sale consultants were on duty.
The frightened women were not hurt as the men started smashing display windows with hammers and took jewellery, cellphones and laptops.
A customer at the scene said: “This mall always gets robbed. I think this is an inside job. These store owners should start giving their employees danger pay because not everyone is going to be so lucky to be left unharmed.”
Police spokesperson, Sergeant Noloyiso Rwexana, says: “According to reports six unknown men entered the store and broke the display glass cabinet and fled the scene and took jewellery, cellphones and laptops out of the cabinet, all worth an undisclosed amount. No one has been arrested thus far.”
Dorothea Wright, the General Manager at Liberty Promenade, said the centre’s security has been placed on high alert.
“While robberies are most unfortunate, the centre’s operations do their utmost to ensure that no injuries or deaths occur and we have been able to ensure this with recent incidents that have taken place at Liberty Promenade,” Wright says.
“We have experienced on-site security teams appointed to protect the mall, supported by an intelligence network to both try and prevent criminal activity and assist the South African Police Service with investigations to try and apprehend criminals.”