“BOGUSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS” COPS!
Bogus cops stop bus, rob
tourists
20 June 2016, 07:19am / Ilanit Chernick
Cape Town - 090127 - At Khayelitsha's Nonceba Hall on National Police Day there was a meeting to help organize how local organizations could assist the police in dealing with community issues. Photo by Skyler Reid.
Johannesburg - In another brazen robbery targeting tourists, a bus load of visitors from India have been robbed of their belongings by two men impersonating police officers.
20 June 2016, 07:19am / Ilanit Chernick
Cape Town - 090127 - At Khayelitsha's Nonceba Hall on National Police Day there was a meeting to help organize how local organizations could assist the police in dealing with community issues. Photo by Skyler Reid.
Johannesburg - In another brazen robbery targeting tourists, a bus load of visitors from India have been robbed of their belongings by two men impersonating police officers.
They
were targeted while travelling on the Cleveland off-ramp on the M2 at about 11.30am
on Saturday, while on their way to Gold Reef City.
Police
spokesman Captain Mavela Masondo explained how the thugs pulled off their
daring daylight robbery.
“Two
suspects dressed as police officers pulled the bus over and used this to
intimidate and rob the tourists. They were in an unmarked white VW Polo.
“They
showed the driver police badges telling him that they needed to search the bus.
“The
men then got onto the bus and robbed the bus driver of R800, the tourists of
$700 (R10 606) and four cellphones,” Masondo said. They got off the bus and
drove off.
Masondo
said a manhunt had been launched for the suspects.
On
Sunday, Gauteng Tourism Agency (GTA) spokesman Barba Gaoganediwe said the rise
in tourist-targeted crimes was a concern. “It’s a big worry for us, especially
when the industry is just recovering.
“It
undermines all the hard work that role-players and members of the industry have
put in to build it up. Tourism is a major contributor to the country's GDP,” he
pointed out.
He
said the GTA was particularly worried because this type of crime had reared its
head again following successful arrests in Joburg earlier this year.
Gaoganediwe
said there had been a clampdown on the OR Tambo International Airport gang who
followed tourists to their destinations and criminals following the Red Bus
Tour in Joburg.
He
added that they were working together with the Tourism Business Council of SA
on a tourism safety initiative. “This entails an incident-recording system, and
we also have a joint response team where different safety officials are
instantly informed of such incidents.”
Dedicated
detectives and specialised police units were also working to prevent the
robberies, he said.
“We
also have a victim-support programme where we provide victims assistance with
passports and documentation needed to either continue their travels around the
country or to help them return home safely.
“We
will continue working with police to be tourist-friendly,” Gaoganediwe said.
Last
month, US tourist CJ Small, attending the South African Funeral Director and
Morticians' Association Convention, was shot in the face and robbed by gunmen
on the tour bus he was travelling on in Joburg.
Small
has since returned to the US, and according to his Facebook page, returned to
work earlier this month.
In
January, an Angolan journalist was shot after robbers climbed into the taxi he
and his crew had taken from OR Tambo Airport to Sandton. Two of the robbers
allegedly forced their way into the vehicle, with one taking the wheel while the
other robbed them at gunpoint of money and cellphones.
In a
third incident, also in January, two tourists were robbed at gunpoint of R100
000 and their luggage, passports and airline tickets.
ilanit.chernick@inl.co.za
