Armed Burglars vandalise Newlands Cricket ground in South Africa

The Newlands cricket ground in Cape Town is one of the most iconic cricket stadiums in the world. The stadium was established in the year 1888 and is situated between two South African landmarks - the Table Mountain and Devil's Peak. However, the pride of Cape Town has come under the radar for burglaries ever since the year 2015. The most recent one occurred on Easter weekend when armed robbers broke into the stadium and took away the television sets, liquor bottles and other valuables from inside the stadium premises.

According to a Western Province Cricket Association release, the incident occurred a little after midnight on Friday (March 30) when a woman approached the security officials at Gate A to ask for directions to a church in the area. She returned five minutes later to ask a similar question when men jumped the stadium's fences. Fifteen other men, some armed with guns, forced their way in and extorted the security guards to hand over the keys to the presidential suite. In an hour, they packed the goods - including TV sets and liquor bottles - into three separate vehicles and left the scene.

"The South African Police Services are busy with an extensive investigation into the event and we will also reassess our security measures, including the possibility of having more cameras installed," a senior official of WPCA to Cricbuzz.

"As an Association we are disturbed by the robbery and will do our utmost with the help of the South African Police Services to get to the bottom of this and try and prevent a reoccurrence of this type of incident. We will seriously look within our budgetary constraints to improve our security situation at the stadium,

"Whilst it is truly appalling for this type of robbery to take place at our iconic cricket stadium where we have enjoyed some wonderful memories this past season, we are thankful that the security guard caught up in this crime was unharmed. He has been offered the necessary counseling in order to help him recover from this ordeal."