Pretoria - Three Congolese nationals had a bloody welcome to South Africa when they were attacked on arriving at the luxurious Sheraton Hotel in Arcadia.
The robbers, who were still at large by late on Thursday afternoon, held up the trio, shooting and injuring one outside the hotel on Wednesday night.
Gauteng police spokesman Mack Mngomezulu told the Pretoria News that a police hunt had been launched for an armed gang last seen driving a silver Audi A3.
He also appealed to the general public for assistance in the search.
The suspects are believed to have fled the scene with the victims’ luggage, two laptops and four cellphones.
It is understood two men approached the three as they were parking their car outside the hotel. The guests were arriving from the OR Tambo International Airport.
But before they could enter the hotel premises, they were confronted by the suspects, who fired several shots and wounded a 45-year-old man in the head.
ER24’s Russel Meiring said that when paramedics arrived at the scene, the wounded man was in a serious condition. He said paramedics treated the man on the scene.
“Advanced life support and treatment interventions were performed on him before he was transported to Muelmed Hospital in Arcadia.”
Regional director of sales and marketing at Sheraton Hotel, Sanet Fagan, said they were obviously very concerned by this incident and were working with authorities in their investigation.
“We are doing what we can to assist the guest and hope for a speedy recovery,” said Fagan.
This is the latest incident in Pretoria where robbers tail visitors from OR Tambo.
Last month a woman had gone to fetch three visitors from Angola at the airport. On arriving back in Pretoria, she dropped off one of her passengers in the city centre and made her way home to the Moot without anticipating any trouble.
But unknown to her, three men travelling in a BMW had kept an eye on her and followed her home.
As she pulled into her driveway, so did the BMW, and her followers immediately jumped out and approached her car, guns in hand.
They were about to rob the resident and her visitors when police pounced.
Two robbers were killed after a fierce exchange of gunfire, and the third was seriously injured.
Mngomezulu said security in and around the airport was very tight. This was why the robbers didn’t ambush their victims at the airport, but rather followed them home.
Pretoria News