Cape Town – A robbery at Uwe Koetter Jewellers at the Cape Quarter Lifestyle Village on Wednesday highlights the fact that a syndicate is behind the recent series of armed robberies in the CBD.
The Green Point and Oranje-Kloof City Improvement District said it was the seventh armed robbery in the Cape Town CBD in 10 days, EWN reported.
Koetter's daughter, Susanne Schilling-Koetter, told the Cape Times she believes there is a syndicate targeting businesses in the CBD.
Also, Cellucity, which has not experienced an incident of this nature since opening in 1994, has had six armed robbery attempts in the past six months – all in the Western Cape – News24 reported.
Uwe Koetter Jewellers was the third jewellery store in the CBD to be targeted by armed robbers in July. Schilling-Koetter said they were traumatised by the robbery after four men, one armed with a firearm and others with sledgehammers, entered the premises.
“The suspects came in with sledgehammers, broke the front display and took those pieces. Their takings are estimated to be worth millions.
“It all happened very fast. They went in, got what they wanted and left. We are grateful that nobody was hurt during the robbery. I believe that this is a syndicate operating in the city,” said Schilling-Koetter.
Two weeks ago, a jewellery store at the luxury Mount Nelson Hotel was targeted by 15 armed men, who arrived in two vehicles. They gained access to the premises by threatening a security guard.
The suspects smashed the glass jewellery cabinet display windows to remove items worth about R50 000 and also made off with R6 000 in cash from the front desk, and cellphones from guests.
At the beginning of the month, four armed men robbed The Diamond Works store, opposite the Cape Town International Convention Centre, on a Friday.
Wearing masks and overalls, they entered the shop in the Metropolitan building, which is under construction, and forced their way in before making off with an undisclosed amount of jewellery.
The Green Point and Oranje-Kloof City Improvement District's Marc Truss said: "We have had seven armed robberies in the CBD in 10 days, three of them jewellery stores – Diamonds Works Convention Centre, Mount Nelson and now Uwe Koetter. In addition to that, it's the mobile cell shops. It's definitely a syndicate."
Commenting on the armed robbery spree, Cellucity and Apple Doctor boss Sean Joffe told News24: "Stores most affected are those where there are no parking booms and inadequate security.
"Malls that have visible armed response on their perimeters are completely free of any of this crime."