Police plan to show photographs to recent the victims of an armed gang operating on Cape Town's Noordhoek beach to determine if the latest criminals are the same ones who spread terror on the long stretch of sand up until late last year.

Police spokeswoman Barbara Breedt said there had been a staggering 11 attacks on the beach reported to police since the beginning of this month but the number is believed to be even higher, with some cases apparently unreported.

There have been many attacks by armed men on the beach in recent years. Horse riders have also been targeted in the bushes near the beach.

In the latest incidents men with knives hid in the wreck of the Kakapo towards the Kommetjie end of the 8km beach and brazenly preyed on people in broad daylight.

In one incident a man was chased down the beach by a criminal with a long knife.

Two Sundays ago a Hout Bay couple were attacked and robbed by knife-wielding men. The men screamed obscenities at the couple and stabbed the man in his forearm and arm before making off with a backpack containing a cellphone, cash and credit cards.

The muggers have virtually turned the picturesque beach into a no-go area.

Breedt said that investigators would hold a "photo-parade" of members of a previous gang that had been arrested for similar incidents.

"We suspect that the group is part of a gang from Masiphumelele who had been arrested by the police but have since been released," said Breedt,

She said the criminals who had been preying on beach-goers in the past few weeks had operated in exactly the same manner as the old gang.

She vowed that the police, with the help from the public, would catch the gang despite several stumbling blocks.

"It is very difficult for us to patrol the area because it is too sandy. We need beach motorbikes or 4x4s to enable us to do the job," she said.

But Fish Hoek councillor Felicity Purchase reportedly said at the weekend that the police needed to organise themselves properly and devise an operation to catch the robbers.

Police warned people not to walk alone but in big groups on the beach.

Anyone with information is asked to phone 021 782 0444/0555.