Cape Town jewellery stores are being targeted by criminals brazen enough to rob them in broad daylight.

At the beginning of July, the Diamond Works store in the Cape Town CBD was robbed, and there was also a robbery at a popular Cape Town CBD hotel.

Then, on July 31, robbers armed with guns and hammers hit Uwe Koetter Jewellers at the Cape Quarter Lifestyle Village in Green Point. Earlier this month, a jewellery store at Tyger Valley Centre was also robbed.

The police are referring to the perpetrators using guns and sledgehammers as “the hammer gang”.

TimesLIVE reports that the hammer gang struck again yesterday at Foschini in the Kenilworth shopping centre.

Once again armed with guns and sledgehammers, five suspects held the staff of the clothing store hostage while they raided glass cabinets and demanded cash from tellers.

“This morning [August 12] around 11.10am, armed suspects held the staff of a clothing store in a Kenilworth mall at gunpoint and fled with jewellery, cellphones and cash,” said police spokesperson Lt-Col Andre Traut.

“They fled in a silver Chevrolet SUV with false number plates and are yet to be arrested.”

Not a jewellery store, sure, but following the hit on Foschini, there was a robbery at Kamaldien Jewellers at Cavendish Square.

According to IOL, police are currently unable to confirm the particulars of the case.

It’s unknown whether the two incidents from yesterday are related.

So far no arrests have been made.

One thing we do know for sure is that it’s a dangerous time to be in the jewellery business.

[source:timeslive&iol]