Johannesburg - The notorious Rolex Gang may be back stalking the streets of Sandton.
Police could not confirm whether the gang was responsible for shooting Adam Ballim on Thursday, but did confirm that his wife’s watch had been stolen.
Ballim, the brother of economist Goolam Ballim, was shot three times in a Sandton parking lot, say witnesses. He died in hospital.
The gang’s modus operandi is to follow people home and rob them of watches, other jewellery and valuables.
Provincial police spokeswoman Lieutenant-Colonel Katlego Mogale said police could not assume the gang was behind the shooting. “In the first place, we are not sure why the couple was approached. We cannot assume it was them because a watch was stolen,” she said.
Last month, the gang followed a man from a shopping mall back to his office in Parktown, where he was hijacked and robbed of his Rolex watch. A few days later, one of the gang members, Moses Maleka, was shot and killed.
Goolam said the family could not comment.
Ballim, in his fifties, had opened fire on four men he suspected were targeting him while parking a rental car, said Mogale. It is alleged the men, who were travelling in a Mercedes-Benz, had tried to hijack Ballim, who was driving a BMW.
Police have opened a murder and armed robbery docket.
Meanwhile, four people died during a shoot-out between police, security guards and criminals on Thursday afternoon.
For more than 15 minutes, gunshots rang out at The Hill, near Rosettenville, in a house behind Little World Nursery School where children were playing in the yard.
This was after security guards confronted suspects involved in truck hijackings where a shipment of cellphones was stolen.
“It is alleged that a courier truck was hijacked near Selby and taken with its escort vehicle to Kibler Park where the suspects exchanged vehicles. They took the shipment of cellphones into a white BMW and a black Nissan Navara,” said Mogale.
“The suspects were picked up in Rosettenville. The suspects were confronted by a security guard and a shoot-out ensued. Joburg Flying Squad members who were on patrol heard the shots and responded. A heavy exchange of fire took place after which two suspects and two security guards had been fatally wounded.”
Mogale said police arrested three suspects and recovered five unlicensed firearms and the two vehicles the suspects had been using. “Further investigation revealed that the white BMW was reported hijacked in Hammanskraal and the Nissan Navara was hijacked in Florida,” she said.
The Star