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Armed Robbery in South African Graceland CasinoAccording to the Mpumalanga Police, the Graceland Casino near Secunda was robbed last Saturday, by 18 men with heavy armory. The gang got away with a substantial amount of money. Up until now, the police arrested one man, who could be involved with the heist. Superintendent Sibongile Nkosi, head of the investigation, stated that the robbers were armed with AK 47 assault rifles and pistols and they walked in the Graceland Casino, a little after midnight on Friday. They entered the back rooms, showed their guns and held several staff members of the casino at gunpoint. They ordered some of the workers to get the money out of the safe and put it in bags. Nkosi said that on their way out, the armed group walked through the casino, and started to shoot randomly at the people present. Four people were injured during the shooing, one of them a member of the police's dog unit. This police officer is still in a local hospital. The other three are already discharged from the hospital, after treatment.  Based on this story, many believe that this group robbed the Graceland Casino and disappeared behind the border with the cash. According to The Citizen, the gang operates from Johannesburg and works for a big organization in Zimbabwe. Now, the Mpumalanga police have launched a giant manhunt for the gunman that robbed the casino. Nkosi says that the one suspect that has been arrested is being held for questioning. The others are still at large. The robbery is just the latest in a epidemic of attacks on casinos in South Africa. A 20-man gang shot its way into the Meropa casino, near Polokwane, shortly before 1am on December 20, robbing it of an undisclosed amount of cash and its patrons and staff of their cell phones and money. Another recent incident happened in KwaCulu-Natal, were fifteen armed men robbed the Monte Visto Casino in Newcastle of an undisclosed amount of cash on Sunday. The gang overpowered a security guard and forced its way into the casino, said Superintendent Buhle Ngidi. The South African police officers are helpless in the fight against the casino robbers. Almost every week, a casino is robbed, and people get hurt. Many cases are still under investigation, while hardly any case is every solved. |
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