Shopping centres warned of ‘hammer gangs’

Its unclear at this stage if the robberies are linked to a single gang, but police investigations are underway.

FOLLOWING a spate of shopping mall burglaries in and around the Durban area, Blue Security has urged shop owners and staff to be on high alert.

During these burglaries, brazen criminals smashed their way through the front doors of several stores in some cases using hammers and fleeing with goods ranging from alcohol, clothing, jewellery and electronic devices.

Reports of burglaries were reported in Watercrest Mall, Kloof Village Mall, The Pavilion and Westwood Mall with Pinecrest Centre being the recent one which was targeted.

Blue Security operations manager, Brian Jackson said the company had recorded at least five incidents of business burglaries at shopping malls and a further 10 unconfirmed reports of similar crimes had been reported to neighbourhood watch networks from Umhlanga to Scottburgh over the past three weeks.

“Most of the incidents reported to us occurred at night or several hours before stores would been expected to open for business.”

He said it is unclear at this stage whether the incidents are linked to a single gang as police investigations are underway.

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“We urge retail chains, independent store owners and their staff to be vigilant and to ensure that business alarm systems are correctly activated and to be on the lookout for any suspicious activity when opening up and closing their shops.

“If you do not already have CCTV surveillance camera installed in the shop, consider upgrading your security as the intelligence gathered via camera footage can go a long way to help the police and security companies investigate these crimes,” said Jackson.

He advised staff and managers to make sure that no-one is following them to the store premises and to immediately report any suspicious activity to the police and their security company.

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“Gangs have also walked into stores posing as customers before holding up and robbing staff so it’s important to be security conscious throughout the day and ready to press your panic button in an emergency,” said Jackson.

Other malls which have been hit are The Pearls Mall, Musgrave Centre, The Atrium and Southway Mall, while there have also been unconfirmed reports of incidents at Gateway, Scottburgh Mall, The Galleria Mall and Bluff Towers.

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