Cape Town – In August, the SA Post Office announced that it would permanently shut four of its branches in the Eastern Cape – all in the Nelson Mandela Bay metro – due to staff being highly traumatised and unable to function properly.
These branches were all hit by armed robbers at least four times a year. After the latest attack on a post office in the Eastern Cape, police are hunting two armed suspects who allegedly robbed a post office in Sidwell, Gqeberha, on Saturday.
According to police spokesperson Captain Sandra Janse van Rensburg two suspects entered the post office in Commercial Road, Sidwell, at about 11am on Saturday, armed with firearms.
’’Four staff members and one customer were forced into the safe of the post office and locked inside, while the two suspects fled with an undisclosed amount of cash,’’ Janse van Rensburg said.
After the four staff members and customer were freed from the safe, they were taken to hospital for medical treatment ’’due to being suffocated inside the safe’’, Janse van Rensburg said.
Anyone able to assist with any information that can lead to the suspects' arrest is requested to contact the investigating officer, Detective Lieutenant-Colonel Col Willie Mayi on 082 697 5914 or Crime Stop 08600 1011 or Crime Line SMS 32211, or contact their nearest police station.
At the beginning of the month, four suspects robbed the post office in Thornhill. After one of the suspects disarmed the guard, three armed men entered the premises.
They pistol-whipped the manager, opening a wound on her head, before stealing her handbag and an undisclosed amount of cash.
IOL