TA B L E V I E W
B u r g e r Email: tyger@dieburger.com
Wednesday 22 February 2012
Tel: 021 910 6500 Fax: 021 910 6501
Seven hours of hell
Firefighters struggled for seven hours to extinguish a fire that raged in the Rietvlei Wetlands Reserve along Blaauwberg Road on Sunday. The fire started at around 10:15 and firefighters from the Milnerton Fire Department and Working on Fire, a team who specialises in extinguishing vegetation fires, battled the flames until 17:30. A spotter plane and two helicopters were used to assist to extinguish the fire. The spotter plane circled the area during the fire and guided the ground crews. This was the fifth fire that had to be extinguished since midnight on Saturday. It is believed the fires might have been started by individuals collecting wood and aimed at clearing the underbrush. Photos: Shaun Laishley
) False badges but real firearms
Fake cops rob couple LEON STEENKAMP
Their police badges might not be real but there is nothing fake about the firearms that are waved around by a band of robbers impersonating police officials. In September last year TygerBurger reported on two separate incidents where a gang – robbers dressed as policemen – targeted two homes in Parklands. In one instance a group of seven men pretended to be police members executing a drug raid, in an-
other incident three men gained access to a residence under the same pretences. On Saturday 11 February, four robbers with a similar modus operandi targeted another couple in Parklands. The man and woman were in their duplex in the Ashwood Mews Park in Parklands Main Road when they heard a knock on the door. “When the man checked the door he found three men dressed in civilian clothes with police bulletproof jackets on. The men questioned him asking whether he knew a certain two indi-
viduals, who apparently stayed there before them. The “police” then said they had a search warrant. When the man opened the door they stormed inside,” said Lieutenant Elizabeth Munro from the Table View Police Station. Once they entered the flat, two of the “policemen” took the man upstairs leaving the other to watch over his girlfriend downstairs. Another man was keeping watch outside the unit. Once upstairs the man was tied up and assaulted. “We suspect they were looking for drugs,” Munro said.
The men then went on to search the house and eventually fled with two laptops, a Blackberry cellphone and cash. The woman went to seek for help once the men left. She ran to complex security and called the police. No shots were fired during the incident. When police arrived on the scene they found fingerprints, but says Munro, these have not yet been linked to any known suspects that police have on file. The two victims helped police to compile identikits of the three men. The three suspects were also caught on security footage.
“We found positive clues that will be investigated,” Munro said of the footage. According to police these robbers targeted residences where there has been some sort of drug-related activity. Police could not confirm whether it was the same men who were responsible for the robbery in September. Detective Constable Siyabonga Mgaju is investigating a case of house robbery (case number Cas262/02/21012) and anyone with information can contact him on 021 521 3300 or 071 876 2819.