- Thieves hit a bottle store in Bothasig, barely a day after the sale of alcohol was banned with immediate effect.
- According to the owner, it appears they ripped off the safety gate by tying it to a vehicle.
- They targeted mainly the whisky aisles, he said.
Barely a day after President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a ban on the sale of liquor, thieves broke into a bottle store in Cape Town and helped themselves to their drink of choice.
“They basically emptied the whiskies out,” Mark Kallend, owner of OK Liquor in Bothasig, told News24 of the theft in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
“They ripped the safety gate off with their vehicle… they tied a rope around it and yanked it off. They then threw a boulder through the window.”
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Images showed the store in disarray, with bottles of whisky on the floor and puddles of liquor in the aisle.
Bottles of wine and brandy nearby were left untouched.
“It just shows people are desperate for alcohol and they are going to take what they can, when they can,” Kallend said.
Thieves broke into OK Liquor in Bothasig, Cape Town
Thieves broke into OK Liquor in Bothasig, Cape Town.
Thieves broke into OK Liquor in Bothasig, Cape Town.
Thieves broke into OK Liquor in Bothasig, Cape Town.
He was in the process of replacing the glass panels and safety gates.
“I am going to lock up and pray for the best. What else can you do?”
Western Cape police said they were investigating the theft at the Village Centre in Vryburger Avenue.
“A substantial quantity of high-end liquor bottles had been stolen. A case of burglary at a business premises and theft was subsequently opened by Bothasig police,” said Brigadier Novela Potelwa.
Ramaphosa announced on Sunday that the sale of alcohol would be banned with immediate effect.
“As we head towards the peak of infections, it is vital that we do not burden our clinics and hospitals with alcohol-related injuries that could have been avoided,” he told the nation on Sunday.
He said it was a fight to “save every life, and we need to save every bed”.
Anyone with information on the theft can contact investigating officer, Sergeant Jonathan Kriel during office hours on 021-558-3688, or the Bothasig Detective standby number 079-894-0095.
