Novel approach to robbery

[Kip Powick]

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- A gang of armed robbers forced a man to strip naked and then glued him to his exercise bike while they ransacked his house in one of South Africa's more bizarre crime incidents.

Kobus van Deventer, 50, was left stuck to the bike with super-strong glue for three hours until he was rescued by his girlfriend. His lips also had been sealed with glue.

The South African Press Association reported that van Deventer was hijacked on Wednesday while driving in Johannesburg's northern suburbs.

His assailants dressed in suits and armed with handguns and an automatic assault rifle forced their way into van Deventer's car and made the property developer drive to his house.

"The victim was then forced to strip, after which he was super-glued to the seat of an exercise bicycle, his hands were super-glued as were his feet and then his mouth was super-glued shut," Mark Stokoe, spokesman for emergency services Netcare 911 told SAPA. Workers from Netcare, a private company, provided aid at the scene.

Stokoe said the robbers ransacked van Deventer's house and safe while "helping themselves to Chivas Regal and the like."

South Africa has one of the highest crime rates in the world with about 50 people being murdered everyday. The government is desperate to counter the country's violent image, especially in the run up to the soccer World Cup it will host in 2010.