Over the weekend three assailants raided Western Union, a money transfer company in Francistown, shot its operational manager to death and stole an undisclosed sum of money.
The Station Commander of Francistown Police Station, Cyprian Magalila, confirmed the incident to the Telegraph in an interview on Monday. He said that in the early hours of Saturday, there was reported an incident of robbery.
Police got there after the robbers had fled.
He said that the manager was found lying in a pool of blood and, after he was ferried to Nyangabwe Referral Hospital, he was certified dead.
┬á“The information we got is that the culprits first masqueraded as clients, then locked the other staff members in the store room at gunpoint, shot the manager and got away with the money,” he said.
Magalila said that the body of the deceased, who is a Ugandan national, is still at the hospital as a post mortem report is still to be conducted. He expressed concern over these robberies, pleading with the public to cooperate with them in arresting the culprits. He also said that the robberies in Francistown ┬áare taking a different toll as last month, Standard Chartered Bank in Francistown was also robbed of P179 000 at gun point by assailants who are also still on the run. ┬á“We have not yet arrested any of the suspects and we plead with the public to cooperate with us in making these arrests.”
He advised that it is high time that business people become vigilant and intensify their security measures, adding that they should always treat each client with caution.
However, reached for comment on the robbery incidents in the country, the Senior Public Relations Officer of the Botswana Police, Christopher Mbulawa, acknowledged that the robberies are a huge concern. He said that given the fact that the festive season is near, the public should always be vigilant not to fall victim to such incidents.
“We would like to advise the public that whenever they are faced with robberies, they should always obey the demands by these robbers to save their lives,” he said.
Mbulawa said that they, as the police, are doing their best to protect the public, but emphasized that it is of utmost importance that the public becomes vigilant at all times and should always treat each stranger with caution.
