Tourists warned after attack on Spanish visitor

TOURISTS to Mpumalanga have been warned not to ask strangers for directions after a Spanish visitor was attacked at a petrol station in Nelspruit last week. Ricardo del Arbol Zuntu, 49, was robbed at gunpoint when he stopped at a filling station in Louis Trichardt Street at night to ask for directions. "Tourists should either ask for directions from police or security guards but not just from any Tom, Dick or Harry," said Lowveld police spokesman, Captain Benjamin Bhembe. A single gunman forced Zuntu to lie on the ground and took about R4 800 in travellers cheques, R2 000 in cash and his credit card before fleeing on foot. Bhembe said police were investigating a number of cases involving attacks on tourists and said that car guards were being enlisted in a bid to reduce crime in the city. He said car guards had to register with police and that police were looking at issuing special identity badges to prevent bogus guards from misleading innocent people. (African Eye News Service)