Cape Town - Two businesses in Main Road, Tokai, have been hit by robbers.
A car dealership and a tool hire shop were the latest to fall victim to thieves who made off with over R1 million worth of goods on Tuesday.
Pengelly Autos was robbed of cars worth more than over R1m, computers and appliances early on Monday morning.
Owner Kevin Pengelly said the robbers bypassed the alarm, cracked open the safe, used the keys to open the sliding door of his showroom and drove off with three cars. “They had a field day.”
The robbers made off with an Audi TT, a Golf GTi and a Quantum. They also stole four computers, a laptop, a fridge, microwave, toaster, kettle, six telephones and groceries from the office kitchen.
“I got to work yesterday morning and the place was trashed,” Pengelly said. “They stole all my computers and my back-up hard drive which has got all my accounting on it. I now have no record of my business for the last five years.”
Between Tracker, a vehicle recovery company, and Pengelly’s private security company, the Quantum and the Audi were recovered, leaving only the new Golf, valued at around R400 000, still missing.
He said the robbers must have had plenty of time to root around inside the car dealership.
“They rearranged my cars in the showroom,” he said. “They had to move about four cars in order to get the Golf out.”
With two of the three stolen vehicles recovered, Pengelly is most distressed about the back-up hard drive that contains all the financial records of his business, and is offering a reward to get it back.
Pengelly said another Tokai business, Hire-It, was hit by five armed robbers on Monday night, who made off with goods worth R50 000. The manager declined to comment.
Police spokesman FC van Wyk confirmed the Pengelly Autos incident.
Cape Argus