There was chaos in the Cape Town CBD on Friday when four armed skelms stormed into a diamond store and made off with loot worth thousands of rands.
The brazen boewe, who were wearing balaclavas, ran into the Diamond Wholesaler store on the ground floor of the towering Metropolitan Life building on the corner of Lower Long Street and Walter Sisulu Avenue in the Central Business District (CBD) just before 10am.
They held security guards and staff at gunpoint.
A witness at the scene said the masked men were dressed in overalls.
“I was walking by heading to work, but took my time to window shop as I was early and saw the men wearing balaclavas.
“They had guns. I ran to the nearest pillar and hid behind it and notified someone to call the police because I didn’t have airtime,” the witness said.
The witness said it was over within moments.
“I stood there frozen, but everything happened so fast. It was like something out of the movies.
“When I heard the police sirens I ran as fast as I could.”
Police spokesman, Capt. FC van Wyk, confirms the robbery took place at 9.40am and says the suspects fled in the direction of the N1 with an undisclosed number of diamonds.
“According to reports four unknown males (all armed) wearing masks, entered the shop, struggled with the security and took an undisclosed amount of jewellery.
“They fled the scene in a white Mercedes-Benz C Class vehicle towards N1 outbound.
“The vehicle has five occupants, with the driver. No injuries were reported.”