• Armed robbers hit a diamond store at Somerset Mall on Tuesday.
• Two incidents on the N2, kilometres away, appear to be linked, with one vehicle abandoned on the side of the highway and police investigating.
• Investigators are on scene.

High drama unfolded in Somerset West on Tuesday when armed robbers launched a brazen diamond heist.

According to eyewitnesses, African Diamond jewellery store was hit by a gang of armed robbers at Somerset Mall, around 50km east of the Cape Town city centre.

Shop staff at several neighbouring stores in the mall told News24 how the robbers had then sprinted past their shop doors as they made their getaway - carrying bags of stolen loot and their guns.

"They ran past us... we got a helluva fright," one woman told News24.

Another man rushed in to assist the shaken jewellery store staff.

Meanwhile, on the N2, a South African Police Services Toyota Fortuner rolled and crushed its roof.

And 1km further, a massive police contingent surrounded an Audi which had left the road and plunged into a shallow ditch at Khayelitsha.

Paramedics loaded up a person about 100m away. It was not clear if the person had tried to flee from the Audi, or whether he had been flung from the moving vehicle.

Back at the diamond store, the shop-front had been boarded up with large sheets of paper, while investigators combed the scene for evidence.

Comment from Western Cape police has been requested.