Update, Wednesday, 11am:
Grassy Park police confirmed to Cape {town} Etc that the two suspects, aged 24 and 50, will appear in the Wynberg Magistrates’ Court once they have been charged.
‘According to reports unknown suspects entered the store threatened staff members and robbed the store of cigarettes, card machines, cellular telephones and an undisclosed amount of cash before fleeing the scene,’ Sergeant Wesley Twigg said.
More arrests are not excluded.
On Monday evening, Cape Town law enforcement officers faced a dramatic confrontation when a routine traffic stop in Lotus River was used as a diversion for an armed robbery that took place at an Engen garage across the road, Cape {town} Etc reports.
Also read: Two men rearrested for cash-in-transit robbery in Khayelitsha
According to Alderman JP Smith, the City’s Mayco member for safety and security, law enforcement members stopped a motorcycle for a traffic infringement on Dewet Road around 6pm.
While issuing the fine, officers were surrounded by around 20 members of the Mongrels gang.
‘A tense stand-off occurred, unbeknown to the officers that this was a distraction to mask an armed robbery that was taking place at the Engen garage across the road,’ Smith said.
Watch:
Law enforcement officers were alerted to this when they noticed people running out of the convenience store carrying cartons of cigarettes, items and the cash register.
Smith said the suspects threatened to shoot the officers, forcing them to withdraw their weapons.
‘But since the fuel station and convenience store [were] filled with members of the public, the officers were unable to open fire without causing injury to innocent bystanders,’ he added.
The group then made a quick getaway in a vehicle parked close by and sped away. Two other persons in the group headed for another vehicle.
However, officers pursued these two and prevented them from escaping.
Both were arrested on charges of business robbery.
Also read:
Picture: Screenshot of video