Police arrested five men after a Kenilworth Centre cellphone shop was robbed on Friday last week.
This is the latest in a string of robberies at the mall in just over a year.
Claremont police spokeswoman Colonel Maree Louw said four robbers had forced a security guard inside the MTN store, and then held the staff up at gunpoint, demanding access to the lockers holding new phones.
MTN spokeswoman Jacqui O’Sullivan said the robbers had fled with several handsets.
There have been four other robberies and one attempted robbery at the mall since late 2016, and it’s not the first time the MTN store has been a target.
Galaxy and Co jewellery store was robbed in December 2016; the Tekom shop in August 2017 and again the following month; MTN in May 2017 with a foiled robbery there in October.
An unnamed mall spokesperson said police had arrested suspects within three hours of the incident. No shots had been fired during the robbery and no one had been injured.
“The safety of our shoppers, tenants and employees remains our highest priority,” the spokesperson said.
Colonel Louw said police had arrested four men shortly after the robbery as well as a fifth man, believed to have been the getaway driver, in Gugulethu after the vehicle used in the robbery had been traced there.
The men appeared in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court on Monday where their bail was opposed as they could be linked to other cellphone store robberies.
Ms O’Sullivan said customers and staff who had been caught up in the robbery were getting trauma counselling.