Four people have been arrested for illegally possessing firearms in Table View, Cape Town, near a cellphone store, Western Cape police said on Sunday.
“Their involvement in previous armed robberies is currently under investigation,” Lt-Col Andrè Traut said.
The four were arrested on Friday.
“Western Cape police have identified a number of suspects behind the spate of robberies perpetrated at shopping malls and are in pursuit of these suspects,” Traut said.
“However public assistance is sought for additional information so that their arrest can be expedited.”
Police in the province have arrested 20 people linked to cellphone and jewellery store robberies since the beginning of April.
As part of efforts to stop robberies at shopping malls provincial police had established a team of experts comprising detectives and crime intelligence officers to deal with such robberies.
Trout said criminals appeared to have moved from committing risky cash-in-transit and ATM robberies to less-risky “high-value item robberies”.
“Preliminary investigations suggest that the perpetrators behind these robberies are a group comprising mainly of African males who have previously had a brush with the law.” — Sapa