Police arrive at ‘robbery
in progress’ a day late
Members of the East London flying squad stormed into an East London fish
shop on Saturday morning following a reported armed robbery.
The only problem was that the incident had taken place the day before.
Bright Blue Fisheries owner Chris Whaling said yesterday that four armed
men had entered his North End establishment on Friday afternoon demanding money
and cellphones from staff.
Whaling said the incident occurred at 5.15pm as he was closing up after
a busy day.
Bright Blue Fisheries in North End was robbed at gunpoint last week
Picture: MARK ANDREWS
He said one of the men assaulted him on the head repeatedly using a
firearm, for which he later received stitches.
“The other guys just got hold of all my staff and started punching and
kicking them. At some point the guy who was assaulting me threatened to shoot
me.
“A shot was fired just close to my head. We were all scared for our
lives right then,” said Whaling.
The men demanded the hard drive for the CCTV cameras.
“The guys knew that the whole thing was being recorded. They spent a
good 30 minutes in the store, luckily there were no customers around,” said
Whaling.
He said when the men fled he called Fleet Street police station but was
allegedly told officers could not attend to the complaint as they were all
busy.
“I then asked Beacon Bay police to come and assist us but they told me
that it fell under Fleet Street. I called Cambridge police and they told me the
same story,” said Whaling.
He said he locked up and went straight to Life St Dominic’s hospital
where he was treated for his injuries, and was able to return to work on
Saturday.
“Shortly after opening, a flying squad vehicle came rushing up to my
shop with the officers ready to shoot saying they had heard about an armed
robbery in progress,” said Whaling.
“I told them that they were late as the incident had happened the day
before.”
He said the officers then left and he went to Fleet Street police
station to open a business robbery case.
East London police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Mtati Tana confirmed a
case had been opened.
“The allegations about non-attendance of complaints are taken seriously
and as a result East London cluster is investigating this,” said Tana. —
zwangam@dispatch.co.za
