Gang robs Keetmanshoop chemist at knifepoint

THE owner of the Link Pharmacy at Keetmanshoop, Nico Coetzee (63), was robbed at knifepoint on Thursday evening while locking up his business.

Coetzee yesterday said that a gang of three, wearing balaclavas to cover their faces, held a kitchen knife to his throat after they overpowered him from behind. “I tried to wrestle, but let it go after they began to punch and kick me,” Coetzee said.He was forced to hand over N$40 000 in cash before being tied up with masking tape.The robbers also made off with two laptop computers, a digital camera, a cellphone and the pharmacy’s safe keys.Coetzee sustained minor injuries to both arms caused by the masking tape his arms were bound with.Coetzee said the robbers could have looted more if he had not directed them to the wrong safe, located in his son’s office, where his keys did not fit.His son, a medical practitioner, operates from an office in the same building.Coetzee said it was the first time he had been robbed since he opened the pharmacy in 1973.”Housebreaking cases are common, but an armed robbery is something we are not used to in this town,” he said.Coetzee is offering N$25 000 to anyone who can help the Police catch the robbers.He said the computers contained valuable data, including the pharmacy’s bookkeeping system.”I was about to leave last Sunday to have my financial records audited, but could not since the data is on the stolen laptops,” Coetzee said.He thanked the local Police for their quick response to the robbery.Inspector Nicky Nambala at the Police Regional Head Office said yesterday that the robbers were still at large.He said the only stolen item that had been recovered is the digital camera, which the robbers apparently dropped when they fled the crime scene.”I tried to wrestle, but let it go after they began to punch and kick me,” Coetzee said.He was forced to hand over N$40 000 in cash before being tied up with masking tape.The robbers also made off with two laptop computers, a digital camera, a cellphone and the pharmacy’s safe keys.Coetzee sustained minor injuries to both arms caused by the masking tape his arms were bound with.Coetzee said the robbers could have looted more if he had not directed them to the wrong safe, located in his son’s office, where his keys did not fit.His son, a medical practitioner, operates from an office in the same building.Coetzee said it was the first time he had been robbed since he opened the pharmacy in 1973.”Housebreaking cases are common, but an armed robbery is something we are not used to in this town,” he said.Coetzee is offering N$25 000 to anyone who can help the Police catch the robbers.He said the computers contained valuable data, including the pharmacy’s bookkeeping system.”I was about to leave last Sunday to have my financial records audited, but could not since the data is on the stolen laptops,” Coetzee said.He thanked the local Police for their quick response to the robbery.Inspector Nicky Nambala at the Police Regional Head Office said yesterday that the robbers were still at large.He said the only stolen item that had been recovered is the digital camera, which the robbers apparently dropped when they fled the crime scene.