'Hammer gang' target third store in one week

Shattered glass lies on the floor after robbers broke into Natal Wholesale Jewellers in the Musgrave Centre at the weekend. Picture: Deon Delport

Shattered glass lies on the floor after robbers broke into Natal Wholesale Jewellers in the Musgrave Centre at the weekend. Picture: Deon Delport

Published Jan 16, 2017

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Durban – A Natal Wholesale Jewellers (NWJ) franchise on Sunday morning became the third Durban jewellery store to be hit by brazen jewel thieves armed with hammers in a week.

By the time The Mercury arrived at the scene at Musgrave Centre at around 10am, the area had already been cordoned off with tape and beacons. 

Shattered glass lay strewn across the shop floor and its main windows and the display cabinets had been smashed to pieces.

A woman who was working in one of the neighbouring shops when the robbery took place about an hour earlier said: “I heard a loud noise, I thought it was a gun, but I was later told it was a hammer.”

Out of the corner of her eye she saw a man with his hand in the air. She had just opened her shop and quickly ran to hide behind the shop counter.

“I don’t think they (NWJ) had opened yet,” she said. “Their doors were still closed.”

The woman was shaken.

“It all happened so quickly,” she said. “They were in and out.”

It was still unclear on Sunday what exactly was taken, but no one appeared to have been hurt and Berea police were investigating the robbery, according to police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Thulani Zwane.

No one from NWJ was available to comment on Sunday, and Musgrave Centre management said they would only be able to provide a statement later on Monday.

Durban jewellery stores have fallen victim to a string of heists over the past week.

Last week, The Mercury’s sister paper The Daily News reported that a gang of hammer-wielding men had on Sunday stormed Osiniq Jewels at the Hilton Hotel, and stolen high-end jewellery worth millions of rand.

Then on Monday night, Cajee jewellery store at Gateway was hit using a similar modus operandi and more than 20 watches were stolen.

The Mercury

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