Tshwane nightlife

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Man threatens fiancee with bazooka

Pretoria revellers had a close call when an enraged man allegedly threatened to blow up his fiancee in a late-night pub with a high-explosive anti-tank rocket.

The 27-year-old Centurion resident is believed to have flown into a fit of rage following a heated argument with his girlfriend outside Firkin Fun Pub during the early hours of Saturday morning.

It is believed that the man became upset with his fiancee after she began flirting with several other revellers in the pub, and stormed out into the parking lot.

Running to his car, he opened the boot and grabbed an Armbrust anti-tank grenade launcher, which is also commonly known as a bazooka, and a .303 hunting rifle before charging back to the pub.

The disposable recoilless German-made rocket launcher, which is specially suited for urban conditions, uses high explosive ammunition that creates a high-velocity jet of metal that can pierce solid armour.

It is not known how the man came into possession of the military-issue weapon, or how long he had it in the boot of his car.

Police from Gauteng rapid response unit and Lyttelton police station arrested the man after they received calls from revellers who spotted the man with his weapons.

Information from police is that the man, who had no rounds for the launcher, apparently just wanted to threaten his fiancee.

"When we came round the corner and saw what he had, we got a hell of a fright. There is no ways our bulletproof vests would have been able to stop those things," said an officer.

He said that if there had been rounds and the man had fired at the pub, he would have destroyed more than just his fiancee.

"There would have been some serious collateral damage. He probably would have destroyed half the block," he said.

The policeman said the man had apparently got the device for a Halloween party in 2008, and had apparently forgotten to return it to the person he borrowed it from.

"At this stage we are trying to establish where the weapon came from, especially as it is not a grenade launcher that is used by the South African National Defence Force," he said.