BLUE Security has urged residents and domestic workers to be vigilant after several armed robberies were reported to the company in recent weeks.
Blue Security managing director Darryn le Grange said armed robbers, driving a silver Opel Corsa bakkie registered to a car rental company, had burst into a Glenmore home where they held up the domestic worker.
Le Grange said this was the second armed robbery in the area in recent weeks where robbers had targeted a domestic worker in broad daylight.
“Three armed men entered the property at around 12.30pm and held up the domestic worker before fleeing with jewellery and keys for the resident’s Mercedes Benz,” le Grange said.
In an earlier incident in Glenwood armed robbers had derailed the driveway gate to force their way onto a property before holding up the domestic worker and demanding access to the safe and keys. Umbilo SAPS attended the crime scenes.
Le Grange urged residents to educate their domestic workers regarding home security especially when cleaning outside with the doors open.
“Domestic workers should be briefed on security issues on a regular basis as it can be easy for staff to become complacent over time. Residents are encouraged to regularly remind domestic workers to ensure doors are locked, not to let any ‘repairmen’ or meter readers onto the property without prior approval and identification and to be aware of the nearest panic button in the house. This will help to reduce the risk of a robbery and ensure the security company is alerted as quickly as possible,” le Grange said.
Le Grange said in two recent incidents Blue Security reaction officers had arrested an alleged housebreaker and a trespasser in the early hours of the morning after responding to alarms.
“A Blue Security reaction officer responding to an alarm caught a housebreaker while he was trying to break into a house through the window of a home in Meyrick Avenue in Glenwood. He was handed over to the Umbilo police at the scene of the crime,” Le Grange said.
In the second arrest Blue Security’s quick thinking reaction officer arrested a trespasser on a property in Jan Smuts Highway and handed him over to the Mayville SAPS at the scene.
Le Grange also advised motorists to be vigilant when parking on the street following a hijacking in Marginy Road in Umbilo and an armed robbery in Palmiet Road in Clare Estate.
“A gang of five men hijacked a car parked on the street in Umbilo, while a woman was sitting in the passenger seat waiting for someone who had gone into the adjacent property. The police managed to recover the car and rescued the woman, who fortunately was not harmed,” Le Grange said.
In the second incident three armed men held up a motorist in broad daylight while she was locking up her car in Palmiet Road.
“The suspects fled with her handbag, car keys and gate remotes,” Le Grange said.
