Two South African tourists were threatened, shot at and robbed of valuables worth more than N$110,000 (R110,000) in two separate incidents in the small Namibian town of Mariental at the weekend, police in that country said.
A 72-year-old male South African tourist was attacked by two armed robbers at the Mariental River Chalet. The attackers used a crow-bar to break down the door of the tourist’s caravan.
The brave tourist put up a fight. In the ensuing scuffle the attackers fired two shots at him, but they missed.
The armed thieves got away with N$11,500 (R11,500) in cash.
In an interview with the Namibian newspaper, the unnamed South African said it was the first time he had been attacked in more than 20 years of regular visits to Namibia.
“I was lucky that the bullets did not hit me. I was later told by a police officer that I was the second tourist to be attacked and robbed here this weekend,” the tourist said.
Namibian Police Force (NPF) Mariental deputy commissioner Joseph Gaseb said investigations into the robberies were ongoing although no suspects had been arrested by Monday.
However, he said police had recovered a ring valued at N$100,000 (R100,00) and some jewellery stolen from one of the tourists and said arrests would be made soon.
– African News Agency (ANA)
