Virginia - Robbers broke into a coin collector’s home in Virginia in the Free State and helped themselves to coins and foreign currency worth millions, police said on Friday.
Police spokesperson Sergeant Mamello Mokhouane said the home of the 75-year-old coin collector, who did not wish to be named, “was broken into on Saturday December 5, between 7:30am and 3:30pm at Virginia Central”.
The robbery occurred while the coin collector and his wife were away in Johannesburg for the weekend. It was their granddaughter, 26, who discovered that the house had been broken into when she came home from work on the same day.
Mokhouane said the granddaughter called the neighbour to come as she thought the robbers could still be in the house. When the two entered the house, they found the plasma TV gone, the main bedroom ransacked and the safe opened.
Mokhouane said the neighbour alerted Virginia police and a case of housebreaking and theft was opened.
According to police, the robbers had stolen from the safe, R1.5 million worth of foreign currency, R80 000 cash, jewellery and a firearm with live rounds.
Mokhouane said the owner had collected the coins over a 30-year period, and the collection included Mandela graded coins. The robbers had left one of the coins behind at the scene.
The robbers remained at large and Mokhouane called on anyone who had information about the housebreaking and robbery to please come forward and contact Detective Warrant Officer Johanne De Lange at 082 782 63553.
ANA
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