Thanks to an e-hailing driver, four men were stopped in the act of robbing a store at a Mitchells Plain petrol station on Wednesday evening.
The driver, who did not want to be named, said he was called to drop the skelms after 6pm but after hearing their conversation about robbing the winkel, he immediately flagged down a security company vehicle, CWS Security, to report what he heard.
“While driving with them, the guys were talking all the time, I am not sure if they were high or what, but they were talking all the time and it sounded like nonsense,” he says.
“The drive was not long but I started paying attention when the one spoke about a gun.
“I wanted to ask questions because I was scared but one of them passed the gun to the other guy sitting in the front and that is when I knew they were planning to do something wrong.”
The 36-year-old said after dropping the four men off for the trip that cost just over R100, he went to the police station to report what he heard but on the way spotted the security guards.
“I drove away and saw the security car passing me and I hooted for them to stop and then I told them.”
An employee, at the store that was about to be robbed, said the four men had just brought the gun out to rob the winkel when the officers arrived on the scene and nabbed them.
CWS said their officers arrested the four men and handed them over to the police.
In the statement, the company said: “An Uber driver pulled up and informed us that he gave four males a lift that was going to rob Engen Garage at Westgate Mall.
“On arrival, the suspects spotted the officers and ran.
“Our officers caught them at the corner of Morgenster and Jakes Gerwel Drive robots.
“Upon the arrest, officers found one firearm and live ammunition in their possession.”
Despite this, police spokesperson Colonel Andre Traut said their offices had no record of the incident.
junior.bester@inl.co.za