Couple locked inside safe by gang of 'professional' farm robbers

13 February 2017 - 12:15 By Jeff Wicks
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The farming community of Underberg in KwaZulu-Natal is reeling after yet another attack – this time the victims were locked in a walk-in safe.

Masked gunman
Masked gunman
Image: Gallo Images/iStockphoto

The robbery‚ at the weekend‚ follows the murder of two farmers in the past two weeks in the mountain hamlet.

Berg Protection Services spokesman Brett Deavin said that a couple had returned home on Friday night after dinner when they were accosted by a gang of men.

“Five men had been waiting for them when they got home to their farm which is near the Drakensburg Gardens Hotel. As they got out of the car they surrounded them and frog-marched them inside the house‚” he said.

Deavin said the gang was well organised and operated like a professional outfit. “They were all wearing balaclavas and gloves and two of the men had been armed with Glocks. They were calm in how they instructed the couple to hand over money‚ guns and valuables‚” he said.

“They were smart‚ they stayed at the house for nearly three hours‚ getting the couple to unlock their phones and computers so that they could disable any form of tracking apps. They also managed to disable the vehicle tracker in the couple’s car‚” he added.

The men are also understood to have made off with expensive photography equipment.

“The couple were bound and then locked in a walk-in safe. They spent the whole night in there before they managed to free themselves and remove a panel from the door and get out. It was quite an ordeal.”

Trevor Rees was attacked by a gang of men on his farm Pudsey last week and died after several days in the Edendale hospital. He was shot and tortured by his attackers. A week prior‚ Gavin Carter was shot and killed on the farm West Ilsley.

Three men have been arrested in connection with the murders and are expected to appear in the Himeville Magistrate’s court on Monday.

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