Fast and furious: Trashed dealership says it was botched robbery
|Published
TARGETED: The Toy Shop in Milnerton
A luxury car dealership that had its sports cars trashed by a gang of 40 thugs on Wednesday claims the attack was a botched robbery.
The Daily Voice visited the The Toy Shop in Milnerton on Thursday and was met by armed security.
A trader, who introduced himself under the false name Marc Jackson, said the owner of the dealership, Gregory Jackson, was not willing to speak to the media.
Mark, who says he was present during the attack at 11.15am on Wednesday, explained that around 40 men arrived in two Toyota quantum taxis and a bakkie.
CCTV footage – which went viral on social media – shows the skollies entering the dealership and smashing car windows and windscreens with wrenches and mops.
Pictures of the incident shared showed damages to showroom models including makes of Porsche, Aston Martin and Nissan GT-R.
SAPS spokesperson Noloyiso Rwexana said that cases of business robbery and malicious damage to property were opened for investigation.
“According to information, about 40 suspects entered the business premises threatened the employees with firearms and demanded two vehicles.
“They were not given vehicles, thereafter, the suspects smashed windows and lights of vehicles on display,” she said.
Soon after the incident, speculation and voice notes started making the rounds on social media, linking the attack to the Cape Town underworld, extortion and unpaid debts to clients.
There were rumours that the dealership is linked to businessman Mark Lifman, and that rival Nafiz Modack was behind the attack, but this could not be confirmed.
Marc, however, insisted it was just a robbery.
“I know Lifman personally; people were saying it is Modack’s people who did this, but we are not involved in any of that stuff.
“Look at our Facebook page or any site. We have no people complaining about us.
“If it was gang-related... we have not received a phone call that says ‘next time we come back, we want money’.
“If it was gang-related, someone would have been shot. It was an outright, blatant hijacking,.
“They asked to be given the cars and they will leave quietly and nicely. I obviously could not give the cars because I do not own them. I was cornered, I had no choice but to talk to them.”
He estimated that the damage done to the exotic cars to be just under R1 million.
He said the robbers also made off with cellphones, computers, watches and a coffee machine.
Staff pushed the panic button but by the time security arrived, the thugs had already left.
A Daily Voice investigation revealed that Marc is actually Marc Misdorp, who was arrested in 2019 for vehicle finance fraud.
Misdorp, 38, was allegedly involved in the fraudulent purchases of a Mercedes Benz and BMW worth a total of almost R2 million.
He threatened reporters that if he was identified in the media, he would take legal action via his lawyer William Booth.