MAKHADO (LOUIS TRICHARDT) – A spate of armed robberies is sending shock waves through the business fraternity in town.

In one of the latest incidents, a businessman was seriously wounded and received emergency treatment in a hospital in Polokwane, after being robbed and shot by two gunmen.

The latest robberies occurred in the Eltivillas Oriental Plaza, where armed robbers attacked at least three businesses within the past couple of weeks. This brings to four the number of businesses in Eltivillas which have fallen victim to robbers since early December last year.

According to a police report, Mr I Kaila of the Star Café in Eltivillas was wounded and robbed at his business premises by two armed men on Sunday evening, January 18. The two culprits fled the scene of the crime in two vehicles – a blue BMW and a white Volkswagen kombi. The police arrested one suspect – a Zimbabwean citizen - in the vicinity of Adams Apple Hotel on the N1. Anyone with information about the whereabouts of the second suspect is requested to phone the local police office at Tel (015) 516 4300, or to use the information boxes at the Spar shopping centre or at the police office. A case of armed robbery and attempted murder has been opened.

In two earlier incidents during last week at Eltivillas, Abdoola's Café and Venus Trading were also robbed. In December the premises of Walky Talky in Eltivillas were targeted. Two clients, including an off- duty police official, were also robbed during the attack.

At Venus Trading, two robbers, posing as clients, entered the shop and asked to look at knives. They were shown some knives, but asked to see something bigger. They then used the biggest knife to threaten the shop assistant, who was forced to hand them the available money in the shop.

In a separate incident on Monday (19th), a 37-year-old-man was robbed at gunpoint in the public park near the Old Messina Road. The man was robbed of R2 400 cash and his cellphone. The incident occurred in broad daylight, at 11.30.

Earlier, armed robbers targeted several major business premises in the central business district of the town. These include three commercial banks (Standard Bank, Nedbank and First National) as well as two of the largest retailers in town, M Premjee & Sons and Solly's Discount World. During the Premjee robbery, shots were fired and a person was wounded. The armed attack at Solly's Discount World ended in a bloody gun battle amongst heavy traffic, during peak morning business hours in the busy Songozwi Street in the central business district. Three people – two security guards and one suspected robber – were wounded in the shoot-out.

During an earlier attack at the warehouse of Shiraz Distributors in the industrial area, a security guard was brutally killed when an armed robber shot him at close range.