Couple followed from airport, robbed, shot
A COUPLE from the Democratic Republic of Congo wouldn’t have known what awaited them as they climbed into an Uber shortly after landing at OR Tambo International Airport yesterday.
Among their valuables in the white Toyota Quest as it made its way to their hotel in Morningside, Sandton, were jewellery, cash, cellphones and a suitcase filled with clothes.
Things turned nasty as soon as the car pulled in at the hotel and the couple alighted.
Three armed men in a white BMW confronted them, demanding their goods.
The men had followed the car from the airport, according to Gauteng police spokesperson Captain Mavela Masondo.
“The guys (robbers) opened fire on them during the course of the robbery.
“There was a scuffle between the robbers and the couple. They (the couple) allegedly resisted giving over their belongings,” Masondo said.
He said the couple were hit, both in the upper body.
“Jewellery, cash, cellphones and a suitcase filled with clothes were taken from the couple,” said Masondo, adding that the Uber driver also had his cellphone taken.
He said that the incident happened at about 6am.
The robbery was the latest in a string of incidents involving people targeted by armed criminals and then robbed while travelling from the airport.
Masondo said the injured couple were “rushed to hospital in serious, but stable, condition”, while the Uber driver was unharmed.
“The three robbers escaped in the white BMW,” he said, adding that a hunt was on to find them.
A case of armed robbery and attempted murder has been opened.
In recent weeks there has been a surge in robberies from OR Tambo, with businesspeople, foreign and local, being the main targets.
Several tourists, an Ethiopian businessman and South Africa’s Competition Commission deputy commissioner, Hardin Ratshisusu, were among the victims.