In yet another incident of crime taking place in Laudium during this past week, a business run from home was attacked by armed thugs last Friday.
The house on Ahimsa Crescent, in Laudium Ext 3, is used for both residential and business purposes. Whilst many residents in the area have seen the adjacent informal settlement of Itireleng as a hindrance, due to constant noise and crime in the area, resident Imran Hoosain saw it as an opportunity for business. Imran built a spaza shop, ‘Bismillah Mini Supermarket’ on the back portion of his yard and then opened his back boundary wall, which faces Itireleng, in order to serve customers living in Itireleng.
Imran told the Laudium Sun,” It was around 8pm on Friday evening and my brother, Rian Miha and myself, together with our Malawian helper, Cassim Wisick were in the shop at the time. I was busy serving a customer, whilst my brother was standing near the fridge packing spinach into packets and Cassim was at the back packing coldrinks. While we were busy, two black guys walked into the shop from the Itireleng side entrance, like normal, and we didn’t notice anything suspicious. The one guy was hanging around near the door and the other was walking around inside, as if he was looking for something to buy. So in that time, the security gate leading to the back of the counter was left open by my brother, as he thought he would quickly finish packing and go behind the counter again. Then, the one thug who was near the door approached me and pointed a gun at me, while the one inside pointed a gun at Cassim. The thug took Cassim’s phone and told him to go away and then held my brother at gunpoint and took his cellphone also. The thug near me demanded my cellphone and money from the till and took me behind the counter. After I gave him all the cash, he demanded more money and when I told him that there was no more money, he hit me on my head with the butt of his gun. After stealing our cellphones, money and even some stock, the thieves ripped out the CCTV cameras and ran off. We could not see their faces properly, as they wore these masks for Covid and had it just below their eyes. My brother called the police and after the police came, I went to the Laudium Hospital. They had to give me stiches as my head was bleeding a lot.”
Cassim said “I was very scared when these guys came in and pointed my boss with a gun. It was very unexpected but lucky they didn’t shoot any of us.”
Sergeant Simon Chokoe of the Laudium Police confirmed that a case of armed robbery was opened and that the matter was under investigation.
