Armed robbers strike again, get away with $26

TWO men brandishing pistols pounced on an Engen Service Station in Magwegwe suburb in Bulawayo and got away with $26 and a cellphone early yesterday morning.

The two robbers arrived at the Service Station at around midnight and frisked a fuel attendant and security guard at gun point.

Acting Bulawayo police spokesperson Assistant Inspector Abednico Ncube confirmed the incident.

Mr Bongani Dube (19), a petrol attendant, said two men walked towards him at the service station saying they wanted to buy fuel.

“They were not driving but asked if we could lend them a jerry can which they wanted to fill up with fuel. They said their vehicle had run out of fuel near the service station.

“We told them we didn’t have one and there was no way we could sell them fuel without a proper container,” he said.

Mr Dube said the duo suddenly drew guns from their pockets.

“They thought the security guard was the petrol attendant. They pushed me towards a parked vehicle and demanded cash and safe keys from the security guard.

“They concentrated on Shepard (the security guard). As they searched him, I quickly took out the cash that was in my top pocket, which was $160, my cell phone and stashed them behind a car seat,” he said.

Mr Dube said the robbers didn’t notice that and by the time they turned to search him, they only found $26 which was in a lower pocket of his trousers.

“They didn’t ask for anything else but immediately fled from the service station through the back gate. Minutes later when we had calmed down, we looked for them but they were nowhere to be seen,” he said.

Mr Dube said the two men seemed to be in their 30s. Police said they were looking for the suspects. “I can confirm receiving an armed robbery report where two men robbed service station employees at gun point and got away with $26 cash and a Galaxy S 1 cell phone.

“The robbers fled from the scene and investigations are underway,” said Asst Insp Ncube.

He urged businesspeople to avoid keeping large sums of money at their business premises.

“As police we’re appealing to members of the public not to keep large sums of money in their premises. They should deposit the money in banks,” said Asst Insp Ncube.

The robbery comes barely a day after another team of four gun-toting robbers got away with over $20 000 at the Savanna Tobacco offices in Windsor Park.

They gagged and tied up a cashier identified as Miss Azellia Madzorera after forcing her to give them keys to a safe.

The robbers took $20 675 and fled in a Honda Fit vehicle.

In July, robbers pounced at Barons Motor Spares in Bulawayo and got away with about $36 000. The closed-circuit television (CCTV) and the alarms at the shop were disabled during the elaborate robbery at one of the city’s biggest vehicle spares outlets.

Last year, a group of masked burglars blew up safes at Bulawayo’s Bellevue Choppies supermarket (formerly Bellevue Spar) and got away with more than $16 000. The robbers allegedly used shears to cut through the roof of the outlet during the night.

Police arrested the robbers barely a week after they committed the crime. A few weeks before that, robbers hit Bulawayo’s Richmond Spar and got away with more than $10 000. Two months ago, robbers pounced on six Bulawayo schools and got away with more than $4 000.