Police corner notorious Rolex gang

The Limpopo and Mpumalanga police tracking team on Friday pounced on the notorious Rolex gang during an “intelligence-driven” sting operation.

Six men, aged between 34 and 40 years, were arrested at various hideouts in Mamelodi, northeast of Tshwane.

At about 6pm last Monday, four men clad in hats, beanies and gloves entered Menlyn Shopping Centre and smashed the display window of The Vault jewellery store, and made away with an unknown number of Rolex watches.

The shopping mall’s security tried to stop the suspects but they got away in two cars, one a white BMW. During their escape, they fired several shots at security but no one was injured.

During the sting operation, police recovered a VW Golf 1 that was allegedly bought using one suspect’s share from the robbery. Another suspect had been on the police’s radar, with two warrants of arrests for robbery and hijacking.

Two other suspected stolen vehicles, a VW Golf GTI and a Toyota Hilux, were also seized.

The gang was also found with R90 000 cash, two firearms, 18 rounds of ammunition, a magnum revolver and 9mm pistol “with serial numbers filed off”.

The suspects face charges including business robbery, possession of unlicensed firearms and will appear today at the Pretoria Magistrate’s court.