Flour power as baker shoots back

2 Armed robbers hold up employees of an industrial bakery in Nancefield. Picture: cctv footage 26/06/2012

Brendan Roane

brendan.roane@inl.co.za

THE OWNER and an employee of an industrial bakery fired back at a gang of armed robbers who held up their offices two weeks ago – and narrowly missed the suspects with their shots.

But it was all captured on CCTV.

Sean Tuna, the owner of the bakery, and his employee think these are the same men who murdered the manager of a Joburg grocery store during an armed robbery early last month, though this has not been independently verified.

A week after this murder, a gang with striking similarities were seen robbing a Melville liquor store and were also caught on CCTV footage.

In the footage, at least 12 men were armed with handguns and three R5 assault rifles when they hit the industrial bakery in Nancefield, near Soweto, on Saturday, June 23.

After the shoot- out with Tuna and his employee, they managed to steal only a security guard’s gun before fleeing.

The men with the R5s stood outside the premises during the robbery and fired shots in the air as they fled.

Tuna said all the suspects had entered the premises by hiding in the back of one of his returning delivery trucks.

The driver of the vehicle has been arrested for his involvement with the robbery as the CCTV footage appears to show him holding open the security door into the offices for the gang.

Captain Phillemon Khorombi confirmed that the driver had been arrested but would not elaborate as the matter was under investigation.

A reliable source said police were looking at linking the men with other armed robberies across Gauteng.

The bakery owner and the employee who fired at the robbers were not meant to be in the office that day, but had come in by chance.

They were having lunch when the gang entered and were sitting at a table when the employee saw one of the suspects walk around the corner with his handgun drawn.

When the suspect saw the employee, he fired a shot, which hit the ground a few centimetres from the employee, who then pulled out his own firearm and fired several shots at the robbers.

The men fled in two vehicles, a silver Toyota Verso with the licence plate ND 347 174 and a white Toyota Hilux bakkie with a Free State licence plate starting with FCH.