WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2007-05-30 Time: 00:00:00 Posted By: Jan
By Karishma Ganpath
Fearless, brazen, armed with hand guns and dressed in the latest fashion, they work 10 to a group, entering upmarket Durban chain stores, emptying shelves in seconds and leaving with goods worth thousands of rands.
They have been dubbed the “Cheese Gang” because they are known for stealing large consignments of small, expensive items, like imported cheese. They have mounted several daring armed raids in the greater Durban area and have left staff at shopping centres terrified.
Captain Trevor Reddy of the SAPS Public Order Policing Unit confirmed that the gang had been linked to five armed robberies in Amanzimtoti.
| ‘Don’t stop us, your stuff is insured, it’s not yours’ |
They had also robbed Woolworths stores in Umhlanga, Durban North, Cowey Road and Glenwood.
Video surveillance released by Woolworths in Glenwood shows the group entering the premises in November last year and on February 11 and March 22 this year.
They move separately into different aisles and empty shelves of toiletries, meat, milk powder, nappies, shampoo, tissue oil, vitamin supplements and other expensive consumable goods.
Store manager Adrian Swanepoel said he was determined to catch the culprits and had gone to great lengths to aid the police investigation. The gang travels throughout KwaZulu-Natal vehicles hired from local car rental companies.
The gang apparently sells its loot to a company in Johannesburg.
| ‘If these guys are not caught, then someone is not doing his job’ |
Swanepoel said: “When we were robbed in February, the car guard recognised them and came in to warn us. Upon leaving through the back door, he was accosted and hit on the head with a bottle.
“The group was made up of both women and men, armed with claw hammers, guns and a pair of scissors.
“We approached them inside the store and customers appeared to be baffled by what was going on,” said Swanepoel.
“One of the armed men said: ‘Don’t stop us, your stuff is insured, it’s not yours’, and they fled in two white Toyota Tazzes.”
In March, the group marched through the Glenwood Woolworths front door, one at a time.
The women spoke well and were dressed fashionably.
Swanepoel said that in March he had effected a citizen’s arrest on two of the women, but they had been released from custody a few days later when they each paid R1 000 admission of guilt fines.
Their vehicle was impounded by Umbilo police, and was traced to a rental company in Overport.
On further investigation, it was believed that one of their other vehicles had been rented by another member of the group, and was linked to an armed robbery that took place at Checkers in Pinetown early this year.
Swanepoel said police had told him that one of the women he had arrested had 19 convictions for theft in Margate, Durban central, Pinetown, KwaMashu, Pietermaritzburg, Port Shepstone, Durban North, Newlands East, KwaDukuza, Eshowe and in the Durban Point area.
Her accomplice had more than nine convictions for theft.
Swanepoel said: “I have given the police surveillance footage that identifies members of the gang, identity document details, addresses and vehicle registration numbers. If these guys are not caught, then someone is not doing his job.”
Police said they were trying to confirm whether members of the Cheese Gang were part of the A Team that had run several raids on shops in central Durban last year.
No arrests had been made in connection with these incidents.
Swanepoel said he had had enough and wanted to put the Cheese Gang out of business.
“I am not intimidated. We will get every one of them even if I have to hunt them down.”
Yesterday, The Mercury approached officers at Umbilo Police Station about investigations of the Glenwood robberies. They said they knew about the case, but that the investigating officer was on leave.