A shop owner and his employee were injured on Sunday when two armed robbers set his carpet shop in Bryanston's Epsom Downs Shopping Centre on fire.
The fire gutted several shops and destroyed half the shopping centre before it was brought under control, said Gauteng police spokesperson Superintendent Eugene Opperman.
Two armed men entered the Kaskai carpet shop at around 3.15pm and allegedly threatened the owner and an employee.
"They took a cellphone and purse before pouring a flammable liquid onto the carpet floor. They then set the shop alight before fleeing," Opperman said.
Johannesburg emergency services spokesperson Malcolm Midgley said the fire had been put out by Sunday evening.
"The entire one side of the building has been destroyed."
Among the 12 "line shops" which were burned down were a doctor's consulting rooms, a Dulce coffee shop, the Kaskai carpet shop, an optometrist, a chemist and a Nedbank branch, Midgley said.
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