BLOEMFONTEIN – Two suspected brazen armed robbers of two Bloemfontein jewellery stores have been discharged from hospital after receiving medical treatment for wounds they sustained during a shootout with members of the Free State police at the Vaal Plaza tollgate on the N1 national road. They were treated under police guard.
The suspects, Xolani Mabaso (29) and Dumisani Maqwaza (35), are due to reappear in the Bloemfontein Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, 26 November. They face charges including business robbery, illegal possession of firearms and possession of suspected stolen property.
They were nabbed by members of a multi-disciplinary Free State police unit at about 23:00 on Tuesday, 18 November while en route to Gauteng. They are part of an armed group of men linked to two separate business robberies at Jewel Craft jewellery in Northridge Mall and at HDL Jewellers in Mimosa Mall on 16 November. Other suspects are still on the run. Intensive investigations, including the search for the suspects in the two incidents, are ongoing by the provincial Hawks’ Serious Organised Crime Investigation unit.
Zweli Mohobeleli, provincial spokesperson for the Hawks, said a part of the ongoing investigation includes possible links to other serious crimes.
The heavily armed men robbed the stores in broad daylight and thereafter made off with an estimated R250 000 worth of precious items and an undisclosed sum of cash. The breakthrough in both robberies came on Tuesday, 18 November with the arrest of Maqwaza and Mabaso. The team included the Fezile Dabi TRIO Task Team, the District Organized Crime Combatting Unit (DOCC), Highway Patrol, and collaborating security companies.
Captain Loraine Earle, spokesperson for the Free State police, said upon being accosted, one of the suspects allegedly pointed a firearm at police officials, prompting a shootout. “A search of the suspects’ vehicle led to the recovery of three firearms – two 9mm pistols and an AK-47 rifle – ammunition, including jewellery believed to have been stolen during the robberies at the two stores,” said Earle.
The brazen robberies
The first incident unfolded at about 09:45 when six unknown males stormed Jewel Craft, a jewellery store in Northridge Mall. The robbers, displaying a calculated approach, instructed the store owner and employees to sit on the floor before systematically emptying the till and clearing shelves of valuable jewellery. The suspects loaded their haul into bags and fled the premises, escaping in a white Suzuki Amaze sedan.
The second robbery occurred at about 12:21 at HDL Jewellers in Mimosa Mall. Five suspects reportedly stormed the establishment, brandishing firearms and forcing employees to lie down whilst they helped themselves to jewellery and an undisclosed amount of money.
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