A heavily armed gang wearing traffic police uniforms ambushed a Boland supermarket owner at a bogus road-block, before taking him back to his shop and forcing him to unlock an ATM and hand over about R200 000 in cash.
Police believe the gang could be from Cape Town and have alerted all patrols in the Peninsula to be on the lookout.
Jose Meirelles, co-owner of Ceres Spar, was on his way home and travelling through the Gydo pass outside Ceres when he encountered what appeared to be a road-block manned by traffic police shortly after 9pm on Friday. As he stopped about 12 men all wearing traffic police uniforms surrounded his bakkie and threatened him with AK-47 rifles and pistols, according to Meirelles' partner, Alex Caballero.
"They had a special temporary stop sign which police normally use at roadblocks," Caballero said. The gang then forced Meirelles to drive back to Ceres where they made him deactivate the alarm, open the supermarket and then unlock the in-store ATM which contained R200 000 cash.
Before fleeing the men ordered Meirelles to lock up and reactivate the alarm in order to ensure the supermarket's security company did not become suspicious.
"The gang was driving three white bakkies and a white BMW and drove Jose in his own bakkie to the R43 between Ceres and Worcester, where they dumped him on a gravel road between the farms," said Caballero.
The gang took his cellphone, but returned the SIM card when he asked for it.
Police later found Meirelles's bakkie abandoned a few kilometres from where he was dumped.
Shop owners in Karoo towns are increasingly becoming targets of robbers who know how relaxed police are in sleepy hollows, Caballero said.
Police sources in Cape Town said their intelligence components were aware of local crime gangs focusing on rural targets and might have to develop a pro-active strategy to prevent this.
A senior intelligence officer said the gangs arrived in a in town several weeks before they struck, spending time "casing the joint" and establishing a safe "springboard" hideout where they could lie low for a day or two after a robbery before returning to Cape Town.
The officer said the Ceres attack was well planned and executed by a gang which may have recruited informers in the town.
The traffic department uniforms appeared to have been sourced in the Peninsula according to Meirelles's description of them, the intelligence source said.
Forensic experts combed the shop and Meirelles's car for fingerprints and other tips they hope will help identity the suspects.