Cape Town - Armed robbers gained entry to Newlands Cricket Stadium and raided the premises at the weekend, the Western Province Cricket Assocation (WPCA) said on Wednesday.
"Gun-wielding robbers raided Newlands Cricket Stadium just after midnight on Friday," a statement from the WPCA said, adding it was the third time the stadium had been hit since 2015, but the first time by armed people.
"The glass doors of about 25 suites were smashed and the robbers targeted the TVs while also taking some liquor and other items in the suites, whilst also vandalising some of the suites."
The statement said a woman had approached security asking for directions to a church. She later returned with three men who jumped the security fences. The four were then joined by 15 others.
"Some of them had guns and forced the security officials to provide them with the keys to the iconic President’s Suite. Their raid took less than an hour and they packed the goods onto three vehicles and then left the scene."
A security guard was unharmed, said the WPCA, adding it would be providing counselling.
“The South African Police Services are busy with an extensive investigation into the event and we will also reassess our security measures, including the possibility of having more cameras installed,” the statement quotes a senior official of WPCA, as saying.
“As an Association we are disturbed by the robbery and will do our utmost with the help of the South African Police Services to get to the bottom of this and try and prevent a reoccurrence of this type of incident. We will seriously look within our budgetary constraints to improve our security situation at the stadium.”
The robbery at PPC Newlands came more than a week after the stadium hosted the third test match between Australia and South Africa, who won the game.