Viele Grüße
Christian
Informanté, 20.11.2017
Police winning the fight against a wave of armed robberies
Niel Terblanche
The Namiban Police are scoring spectacular successes in apprehending gangs of dangerous armed robbers in all corners of the country after a wave of violent crime started sweeping over the nation.
Two men suspected of robbing an elderly woman in Usakos on Saturday and in a separate incident on Sunday also kidnapped and robbed a taxi driver and a young woman close to Omaruru were also arrested.
Two members of the gang that robbed and assaulted a well-known musician in Windhoek on Friday are also behind bars, while two more armed robbers who were caught in the act on closed circuit television cameras while demanding cash at gunpoint at a service station in Okahandja are already serving their jail sentence.
A gang of foreign nationals, of which one is a law student at the University of Namibia, were arrested within a day of perpetrating an audacious cash-in- transit robbery at a popular shopping centre in Windhoek in broad daylight last week. Four of the men are South African nationals, while two other members of the gang are from Zimbabwe.
The successes in Okahandja and Windhoek were followed by the arrest of two men who robbed a 61-year-old woman on Saturday evening while she was busy feeding her dogs at her home. On Sunday, the same gang of robbers hijacked a taxi on the road between Karibib and Omaruru. The men also kidnapped a female passenger and the driver of the taxi.
On Saturday, the robbers over powered the elderly woman in her garden and forced her into her own car after tying her hands behind her back and blindfolding her. They also forced her to hand over her ATM card and PIN-number before withdrawing money from her account before leaving their victim next to the road. They also stole her wedding ring and cell phone.
On Sunday afternoon, the robbers flagged down a taxi on its way to Omaruru while walking next to the road close to Karibib. The taxi driver had a female passenger in the car when the robbers got in.
According to Deputy Commissioner Erastus Iikuyu, Erongo Regional Crime Investigations Coordinator, the men then forced the driver at gunpoint to stop before stuffing him into the boot of the car.
“They drove back to Karibib where they went to refuel the vehicle. The driver managed to escape and reported the matter to the police in Karibib. The robbers, meanwhile, drove off and forced the kidnapped female passenger to send them N$4 500 via cell her phone banking. They withdrew N$2 000 and then decided to drive to Otjimbingwe.”
Deputy Commissioner Iikuyu said a few kilometres out on the Naukluft road the car left the road and got stuck in thick sand.
“The kidnapped woman was found later on the road between Karibib and Usakos and the tracks of the robbers were followed by members of the police and the Karibib District Watch. The suspects were eventually found in Usakos. They were arrested and an unlicensed pistol and the ring of the 61-year-old Usakos resident were found in their possession. Some of the cash they stole and an amount of more than N$2 000 of the electronic wallet money was still loaded on one of their phones. “
He said the two suspects will be taken to Omaruru where they will appear on charges of armed robbery and kidnapping.
Today, the diligence of a team of police reservists in Windhoek led to the arrest of two members of the gang of robbers who severely assaulted an internationally renowned musician on the outskirts of Windhoek on Friday.
According to Chief Inspector Kauna Shikwambi of the Police Public Relations Division the two suspects were arrested about 14:00 in Okuryangava. She said the eventual arrest was intelligence-driven.
“One of the suspects was found in possession of the wallet of one of the five people attacked by the heavily-armed gang. After some interrogation of the suspects, all the stolen items, including camera equipment worth almost half a million dollars, were also recovered. “
Chief Inspector Shikwambi said the suspects are expected to appear in the Windhoek Magistrate Court on Wednesday.
The founder of the internationally renowned show band, Crimson House, Riaan Smit was admitted to a Windhoek hospital after he was viciously attacked by a gang of armed robbers.
Smit, along with the daughter of Gwen Lister, one of Namibia’s best-known media personalities and former editor of the Namibian newspaper, Liberty Lister Verbaan, a friend Renier de Bruyn and two other members of the film crew were busy shooting a promotional film about Namibia when they were attacked by five or six men armed with knives late on Friday afternoon.
During a fight with the robbers, Smit was hit with a rock on the right side of his head. He was also stabbed in the arm. The robbers took the wallets and cell phones from their victims and also stole about half a million dollars worth of camera equipment. The robbers fled on foot.
Smit was taken to hospital in Windhoek, but on Sunday he had to fly to Cape Town where he will have to undergo emergency reconstructive surgery because of fractured skull and upper jaw bone.
Pictured: A gang of foreign nationals accused of a cash in transit robbery in Windhoek last week. Weapons confiscated from two men convicted of armed robbery last week. World renowned musician, Riaan Smit in a Windhoek hospital on Friday and the camera equipment worth almost half a million dollars that was recovered by police
in Windhoek on Monday.