SAPS on luxury car dealership incident – ‘It was obviously a warning’

A video of around 40 men storming a luxury car dealership in Brooklyn, Cape Town went viral on Wednesday. According to police, the suspects demanded two vehicles and when staff didn’t cooperate, they smashed in the windows of several cars in the showroom. 

Police said staff were also threatened with firearms and robbed of their cellphones. 

SAPS COMMENT ON CAR DEALERSHIP INCIDENT IN BROOKLYN 

Western Cape SAPS Colonel André Traut, in an interview with Kieno Kammies on Cape Talk, said the incident that took place on Wednesday was no regular business robbery. All aspects of the incident are now being scrutinised by provincial detectives.

While Traut could not disclose too much information, he said police believe that there is more to the story. He also said it was an obvious warning to the owner of the business.

“Certain demands were made at the dealership and when those demands were not met, 40 men came inside and trashed the cars. The case that was opened was a business robbery but this is not your usual business robbery where money etc was taken although certain items were removed from the business, we believe there’s more to the story and it was obviously a warning to the owner of the business,” said Traut. 

“We’re not going to have hooligans go around businesses extorting people, we believe that extortion is not ruled out in the incident yesterday. I can’t elaborate too much on the investigation, it’s early days, but as I said, our detectives are looking at all the possibilities,” he added. 

At this stage, no arrests have been made, however, Traut said extortion is high on the priority list in the Western Cape. 

“We have various initiatives to clamp down on the phenomena, not only in the city centre but in townships as well where smaller shops were also targeted,” he added. 

EIGHT LUXURY VEHICLES DAMAGED 

Sergeant Noloyiso Rwexana said eight vehicles were damaged when the suspects did not get what they wanted. 

“They were not given vehicles, whereafter the suspects smashed windows and lights of vehicles on display. Eight vehicles were damaged, employees were robbed of their cellular phones. The possibility that the incident is extortion related cannot be ruled out,” said Rwexana.

“Police detectives are following up leads to trace the suspects involved in the incident,” added Rwexana.