A Muslim businessman says he and a friend were robbed by skelms posing as cops and SARS officials.
He says last Friday, 13 heavily armed men dressed in full police gear and South African Revenue Services uniforms rocked up at his friend’s larney Plattekloof house and robbed them of cash, jewellery and cellphones.
He says the robbers tortured his friend by pouring boiling water over him and also threatened to shoot and kidnap his three-year-old daughter.
Camera footage and pictures seen by the Daily Voice show a white two-door bakkie with SARS branding pulling up at the house.
At the gate, the men in the bakkie talked to the homeowner for a few minutes and about an hour later they returned with a police-branded Mercedes-Benz Vito van and a blue BMW 3 Series sedan.
“They came at 5.30am and my friend told them he cannot open for them, they must come with the police,” says the businessman who asked not to be named.
“They were gone for about an hour and a police car pulled up with the SARS car including another car.”
The man, who was visiting his friend at the time, says they felt safer after seeing the “cops” and opened for the bogus SARS officials who he says checked their IDs and scratched around the house.
He says they were “13 black and coloured men”: “We were not at all scared because we believed the police were here.”
He says his friend’s five children and his elderly parents were in the house as well.
The man says he realised something was amiss after half an hour and he tried to sneak out to call the real police.
“I said I will go out for a smoke and one guy followed me and said I must go back into the house. They then pulled out guns and tied everyone up.”
He says his friend was tortured and they poured boiling water over his body.
“It was an ugly scene, they put a loaded gun to a child’s head threatening to shoot her if we do not obey the rules. They took huge amounts of money and jewellery which we have been collecting for years, and cellphones.”
The man says he was locked in the bathroom with the kids while his friend and his elderly mother were tied up with tape over their mouths and kept in the living room.
The skelms searched the house looking for the safe.
“They made it clear that they came for the money, they threatened to kidnap the three-year-old if they did not get the money.”
The man says they are now living in fear and even took their children out of school for fear of kidnapping.
“The SARS vehicle was found by the police with some of the money. It is hard to believe that this is happening and these people might be watching,” he adds.
Police Mihlali Majikela confirmed the incident and says two suspects have been arrested so far.
A case of robbery has been opened and is under investigation.