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Pamela Shumba Senior Reporter
A GANG of five men pounced on an Engen Service Station in Northend suburb in Bulawayo and escaped with valuables worth $20,000 and $600 in cash. Sources close to investigations told The Chronicle the robbers gained access to two offices after cutting six padlocks and blowing up a safe with jewellery at about 3AM last Friday.

The burglars got away with property that included jewellery worth $15,000, an Apple desktop and a laptop. A security guard at the garage said he did not hear the explosion as the robbers blew up the safe. He said he only saw the group loading their loot into a white Toyota Corolla, which was parked about 500 metres from the service station situated along Colenbrander Road.

Bulawayo provincial spokesperson Inspector Precious Simango confirmed the robbery yesterday and advised business people to take their money and valuables to banks for safe keeping.

“Keeping valuables or huge amounts of cash at home or business premises attracts robbers. We advise residents to keep their valuables at banks,” said Insp Simango. The owner of the service station, Nitin Desai, said: “The security guard didn’t hear any noise. It happened between 3AM and 4AM. They also took away three of the padlocks that they cut before getting into the offices,” said Desai.

“They blew up a big safe and took away jewellery. They also took an Apple desktop, a laptop and $600 after thoroughly searching the two offices. We reported the matter to the police and they’re still investigating. Nothing has been recovered so far”.

There has been a spate of robberies in the city with supermarkets and schools being targeted by the robbers. The spate, which began in October last year, targeted supermarkets mostly in the city centre where the robbers broke into the shops and stole over $100,000.

Last month, a group of masked burglars blew up safes at Bulawayo’s Bellevue Choppies supermarket (formerly Bellevue Spar) and got away with more than $16,000. The robbers allegedly used shears to cut through the roof of the outlet during the night.

Police arrested the robbers barely a week after they committed the crime. A few weeks before that, robbers hit Bulawayo’s Richmond Spar and got away with more than $10,000. Two months ago, robbers pounced on six Bulawayo schools and got away with more than $4,000.

They used dynamite to blow up safes at Tategulu Primary School in Cowdray Park and Senzangakhona Primary School in Emganwini getting away with $1,300 and $1,800. They also hit Sikhulile High School and Mthimkhulu Primary School in Lobengula West and Magwegwe West respectively.

In August, police arrested three men suspected to be part of a gang behind the robberies. The use of dynamite in bombing safes started in South Africa when bank robbers started using explosives to blow up Automated Teller Machines (ATMs).