Four cops grab armed businessman in bank

MBABANE – There was a scuffle at the Standard Bank, Swazi Plaza branch, on Saturday morning when police apprehended a businessman on suspicion he was about to rob the financial institution.

The police received a tip-off that 35-year old Lucky Mandlazi, director of Busokoti Construction, had entered the bank with a gun and was in the process of carrying out a robbery.
Four armed policemen are reported to have approached the unsuspecting businessman inside the bank while he was queuing to withdraw money with which to pay his employees’ salaries.

Customers are reported to have been taken by surprise as the police quickly rounded the suspected robber and managed to dispose him of the gun.
“We never anticipated what was about to happen and only saw the plain clothed police officers grabbing the man and at first we thought they were robbers until they shouted that they were police,” a witness said.
The witness said Mandlazi looked obviously confused about what was happening hence he tried to resist but the cops overpowered him.   

The police are said to have then taken Mandlazi to the Mbabane police station for questioning.
However, the police reportedly found what Mandlazi said was a pellet gun, while they (police) claim that it was a toy gun.     
Mandlazi interviewed later, said the only person to have seen that he was carrying a pellet gun was a security guard of a clothing outlet situated near the bank.

He suspects that it was the security guard who ‘blew the whistle’ on him after having seen the pellet gun and the fact that he then went into the bank.  
He said he went to the shop to buy some items and he triggered the metal detector machine on exit, prompting him to produce the pellet gun to the security guard.

“I always carry the pellet gun for self defence purposes after I was robbed recently,” Mandlazi said.
“As I exited the shop, the metal detector went-off and I informed the security guard there that I was carrying a pellet gun, I even produced the gun and was thereafter allowed to continue,” he narrated.

Assistant police PRO Inspector Stephen Dlamini confirmed the hoax armed robbery suspicions.
“Police received a tip-off that there was a man inside the bank who was carrying a gun. The police then responded and took the man in for questioning and he was found with a toy gun and no charges were laid against him,” the police mouthpiece said.

...did police assault him?

MBABANE – Sporting a swollen face, the 35-year old businessman claims to have been assaulted by the police on the Saturday morning.

Lucky Mandlazi, the director of Busokoti Construction, alleges that he was hit with a gun on the head by four police officers inside Standard Bank and a further three joined in the reported assault upon arrival at the Mbabane police station where he alleges that the assault continued. 
 “I was standing in the queue when four police officers in plain clothes entered and began to assault me in front of other customers. “They assaulted me using a service gun and their hands to the surprise of everyone,” he alleged.
He said the police took his pellet gun and the manner they did it was evident that someone had told them where the gun was hidden on his body.

However police have denied ever assaulting Mandlazi.
Assistant police PRO Stephen Dlamini refuted the allegations and said instead the police had played a big role in foiling a suspected robbery attempt.
“The police didn’t assault him but we only responded to the tip-off and took the suspect to the police station for questioning. We can’t reveal more on the tip-off but I insist that he wasn’t assaulted,” Insp. Dlamini said. Asked on what might have caused the man’s face to swell, the police spokesperson said they had no clue.
When told that there were other people inside the bank who witnessed the alleged assault, he maintained the no-assault stance.

He sternly warned people against carrying any form of gun to any financial institutions especially in the advent of armed robberies in the country.
He said the law did not allow people to carry guns into banks even if they were licenced unless they were authorised to carry the guns like security guards.

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