WATCH | Luxury watches stolen during robbery at Joburg restaurant

Luxury watches including Rolex and TAG Heuer were stolen during a robbery at a restaurant in Sunninghill, Johannesburg, on Wednesday.

Istanbul Kebab owner Burhan Demirtas told TimesLIVE that a group of his regular customers arrived at the restaurant at about midday to have a meal and smoke shisha(hookah or hubbly bubbly).

They were seated at a table in the smoking area close to the road.

At about 2pm, two men jumped over the railing into the restaurant.

“I was close to them [customers] by the till. When the guys jumped over into the restaurant, I thought they were joking and were friends because normally it's very safe and secure at the restaurant.

“There were also many cars parked outside and people walking up and down.”

Demirtas said the two men pulled out firearms and demanded watches and it all happened very fast.

“There were bags and laptops on the table but they just wanted the watches [and phones].

“They took the watches and, as they took phones from on top of the table, a gunshot went off by accident.

“The bullet just missed the head of one of our customers, so he was very lucky,” he said.

The robbers made off with four luxury watches and two cellphones.

According to Demirtas, the robbers got into a silver BMW which had been parked at a nearby petrol station.

Demirtas has called on the government to urgently intervene in the crime in the country, specifically robberies at restaurants.

Gauteng police could not immediately comment on the matter.

TimesLIVE