Pietermaritzburg - A gang targeting businesses in the CBD has struck again — this time kidnapping a security guard before ransacking a supermarket.
People’s Supermarket on Hoosen Haffejee Street became the latest victim of a gang of “professional” burglars on Saturday night.
Last month, The Witness reported that businesses in the lower Pietermaritzburg CBD appear to have become the targets of a gang of burglars, with five companies in Victoria, Greyling, Retief and Hoosen Haffejee streets becoming victims in less than a week.
It is believed that the same gang of burglars has now struck again.
The gang of five men and a driver, all masked with balaclavas, approached the premises on Saturday night in what camera footage shows was a silver Honda Jazz.
The men attacked the lone security guard, assaulting him before tying him up and putting him in the boot of the vehicle.
It is believed the gang then took the security guard into the Imbali area where they left him on the roadside. He has since been found and is nursing his wounds.
People’s Supermarket owner Irfaan Dawood said the men returned to the premises before midnight.
“I got a call just before midnight from my alarm company saying the alarm has been activated. A few minutes later they called back saying their armed response unit found the shop’s warehouse door opened,” Dawood said.
According to the CCTV footage, the men returned to the premises in a different vehicle after kidnapping the security guard and broke into the premises via the warehouse door.
They headed straight towards what Dawood described as the “cash office” and made off with cellphones, laptops, cigarettes and an undisclosed amount of cash.
The gang, said to be comprised of “professional” burglars, has thus far escaped with almost R100 000 in cash from businesses during their spree last month.