Don’t leave valuable items in cars

NELSPRUIT – Motorists are once again warned never to leave money or valuable items in their cars when parked in town.

This comes after a number of thefts out of motor vehicles were reported in various parts of town. The latest incident happened on February 26 when a parked vehicle was broken into and R28 000 hidden under the front seat, stolen.

An eyewitness, who wanted to remain anonymous, said she was waiting in front of Lowveld Wholesalers when a white car without number plates, pulled up next to a parked green bakkie.

She said one of the occupants from the white vehicle immediately smashed the bakkie’s front window with an unknown object.

“He took a bag of money and jumped into the car and they fled the scene. The whole thing happened so fast that I couldn’t even scream for help,” she said.

The owner was surprised when he and his wife came from a nearby shop to find that their car had been broken into and the R28 000 which they had just withdrawn from FNB, was stolen.

Car guards from Ehlanzeni Safety Ambassadors said this was the second incident in four months.

“An amount of R40 000 was stolen from a car in a similar manner around October last year and another large sum of money was stolen near Edgars, where the suspects apparently used a gate remote control to open the car,” said Mr Mandla Hlatshwayo, one of the ambassadors.

Hlatshwayo urged motorists to alert car guards to watch over their vehicles when parking in town.

Capt Dawie Pretorius, spokesman of Nelspruit Police Station, warns motorists never to leave valuable items such as cash, cellphones, laptops and bags in their cars.

“If one has to withdraw a large sum of money from the bank, he or she must do his/her shopping first and immediately leave after the withdrawals,” said Pretorius.

He said two other incidents of theft from motor vehicles were reported over the weekend.