Robbers go postal: Grant money raided at 2 Post Office branches
Charlesville Post Office staff members were held at gunpoint
Pensioners have been left traumatised after brazen skelms stormed into two post office branches, robbing them of welfare cash.
The old people were queueing for their monthly Sassa grants from 6am on Tuesday.
Police say in the first incident at around 7.30am, three armed men stormed the Belhar post office.
Police spokesperson Captain FC van Wyk explains: “They entered the post office yesterday morning and threatened the staff.
“The suspects took an undisclosed amount of cash.
“And now the Belhar SAPS are investigating a business robbery case.
“The three suspects and a driver fled the scene in a silver Toyota Run-X in an unknown direction.
“No shots were fired and no one was injured during this incident.”
A Belhar resident says the senior citizens were left traumatised.
“Yesterday was the day for pensioners grant, and the old people were queueing since the morning.
“Apparently the suspects had also been waiting in their car.
“And as soon as the money truck came, the suspects got out of the car and went inside while some elderly people were there. The beneficiaries were left shaken.”
He says the robbers meticulously planned the whole heist.
“It happened quietly and the money delivered was in there only for a few minutes before it was robbed.
“The police didn’t take that long to come to the scene, but the suspects were long gone by that time.”
Then at 10am at the Post Office branch in Charlesville in the Bishop Lavis police precinct, three armed men also held staff at gunpoint.
“They forced them to lie down on the floor and demanded safe keys,” Van Wyk explains.
“They took an undisclosed amount of cash and they fled the scene.”
He says nobody has been injured and the skelms got away in a car.
SA Post Office spokesman Johan Kruger says the affected staff are receiving trauma counselling: “The branches were closed for the day to allow for police investigation,” he says.
Anyone with any information is requested to contact Belhar SAPS on 021 953 8101 or Crime Stop on 08600 10111.