{"id":75668,"date":"2017-11-23T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-11-23T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mobserver.co.za\/75668\/bjnov41-17\/"},"modified":"2017-11-27T07:34:38","modified_gmt":"2017-11-27T05:34:38","slug":"bjnov41-17","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/news-headlines\/2017\/11\/23\/bjnov41-17\/","title":{"rendered":"Tow-truck driver robbed next to road"},"content":{"rendered":"

The men were overpowered after they experienced problems with their truck\u2019s breaks and pulled over close to the Van Dyksdrift offramp.<\/p>\n

Whilst the driver of the truck was underneath it, trying to fix an air-leak on the breaks, he heard his assistant screaming. Because of the noise of the engine, the man could not hear what he was screaming.<\/p>\n

Read: Guard shot in head during transit robbery<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The next moment, he was pulled from under the truck by his legs. One of his attackers hit him over the head with a rock whilst the other repeatedly kicked him.<\/p>\n

Watch: Video – Tosca robbed by armed men<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

A third man held a gun to his head whilst he was dragged further from the truck and searched for valuables.<\/p>\n

\"\"
A tow truck in action. Photo: vanwettens.co.za<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He was ordered to run away.<\/p>\n

The man ran to a nearby roadwork camp and called for help. His boss rushed to the scene.<\/p>\n

They found the truck still standing next to the road. Robbers fled with a cellphone, GPS<\/a>, wallet and cash to the value of R3 700.<\/p>\n

Watch: Video – Armed robbery at Sasol Garage<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Capt. Khanyisile Zwane, Middelburg police spokesperson, confirmed that they are investigating a charge of robbery. She said that the victim recalled that four men were involved in the robbery.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Two robberies were reported last week Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Armed men stormed into Tosca Caf\u00e9<\/a> in Kanonkop and held staff and clients at gunpoint. They made off with an undisclosed amount of cash as well as cellphones.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Video footage of the robbery at Tosca.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On the same night four minibuses were robbed at Midcon Engineering<\/a> when a security guard was overpowered, held at gunpoint and tied up.<\/p>\n

Sterling police work resulted in one a minibus found deserted near the Machado Toll Plaza<\/a> and the remaining three near Badplaas<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The value of the recovered vehicles are estimated to be R2,5 million.<\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n

Other news:<\/h3>\n

New hospital for Middelburg<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

VIDEO – OK Grocer burgled for the third time<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Have you seen this man?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Focus on premature babies<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

VIDEO – Tosca robbed by gang of five armed men<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n

Want breaking news on the go?<\/h3>\n

Add us on WhatsApp. Save the Middelburg Observer standby number 072 248 3855 on your phone and send a WhatsApp message with the words \u201cAdd me\u201d to receive news links.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A tow-truck driver and his co-driver were the victims of a robbery on the Van Dijksdrift Road on Tuesday night. This is the third robbery reported in less than a week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1848,"featured_media":75685,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"hasGravity":false,"cxt_article_byline":"Jana Boshoff","cxt_disable_google_ads":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,2],"tags":[969,8319,9381,21966,9380,9384,1548,2291,5712,9383,3054,8941,9385,9382],"class_list":["post-75668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news-headlines","tag-armed-robbery","tag-crime-in-middelburg","tag-crime-on-n4","tag-middelburg","tag-middelburg-crime","tag-midkon","tag-n4-highway","tag-robbery","tag-tosca","tag-tow-truck","tag-uitkyk","tag-van-dijksdrift","tag-van-dyksdrift","tag-van-wettens"],"category_labels":{"Category":"News","SubCategory":"Local news"},"tag_labels":["armed robbery","crime in Middelburg","crime on N4","middelburg","middelburg crime","midkon","N4 Highway","robbery","tosca","tow truck","uitkyk","van dijksdrift","van dyksdrift","van wettens"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1848"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75668"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75668\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}