Pick n Pay at Maponya Mall targeted by armed robbers

A group of seven men tried to rob the Pick n Pay at Maponya mall in Soweto on Wednesday morning, Gauteng police said.

"Around 9am, a group of seven came through the back of Pick n Pay where workers were about to report for duty," Warrant Officer Kay Makhubela said.

The workers notified security and the robbers entered the store. They and security guards exchanged shots, before the men fled, firing randomly.

"The altercation was very short. No injuries reported as of yet," said Makhubela.

Nothing was stolen and police were investigating.

This was the second time the store at Maponya mall was targeted by robbers since the beginning of September. On September 1, a cash box was stolen from two security guards at a Pick n Pay paypoint in the mall.

On September 9, Gauteng police commissioner Lt-Gen Lesetja Mothiba said between August 13 and September 9, Gauteng malls were robbed 11 times, with isolated incidents in other provinces.

On October 30, two men were arrested following a shoot-out with police after robbing a truck transporting cigarettes at the Glen Marais mall in Kempton Park.