Villager loses P100k to robbers

Pini Bothoko | Wednesday July 27, 2016 11:51

 

Tatitown police station commander superintendent Cyprian Magalila however, denied reports that the perpetrators claimed to be police officers.

“We are investigating an armed robbery in which money in pula, rand and US dollar currencies was stolen at a certain yard at Chadibe village. There were no injuries in this case,” said Magalila.

Although Magalila could not disclose the exact amount stolen in fear of jeopardising their investigations, he told Mmegi that the stolen money is over P100,000.

Initial information shows that the stolen money amounts to USD10,000, about P20,000 and thousands of rands.Magalila said the suspects, who were armed, confronted the housemaid (a Zimbabwean illegal immigrant) in the absence of her employers and demanded entry into the yard.

“On arrival the suspects asked her if the yard belonged to her employer and she agreed. They then demanded entry into the yard. Whilst inside the house they tied her up, destroyed the door of the bedroom that was locked, searched and retrieved the money, took her mobile phone and fled away in an unknown direction,” said Magalila.

“Investigations are still ongoing to arrest the perpetrators who are still on the run. I plead for help from members of the public in order to arrest these culprits,” said Magalila.

The owner of the yard is reported to be working as a street vendor at the Francistown bus rank.

 He added: “We are worried that some people in this era still keep a lot of money in their homes whilst there are lots of banks where they can safely keep their money.”

Magalila said they are also investigating the owner of the yard to disclose the source of the money.

“Our advice seems to be falling on deaf ears. People should know that keeping such a huge amount of money at home puts their lives at risk.

Last year in a similar incident, still in Chadibe, another vendor was attacked by robbers who killed her before walking away with money and cellphones,” cautioned Magalila.

A villager told this publication that the suspects were driving a black car and appeared to have followed the owner of the yard from work when she was knocking off that morning.