Thieves target women’s handbags in north Durban
There has been six cases reported since the start of the year, confirmed the Durban North SAPS spokesperson.
DURBAN North SAPS has warned shoppers, especially women to be wary of their personal belongings when they are at shopping malls or at restaurants. While it may not be a new phenomenon, there has been a series of incidents where women’s handbags are being targeted in the north Durban area with cases reported in uMhlanga and Durban North last week.
Capt Raymond Deokaran, spokesman for the station, said in one of the incidents, a woman’s cell phone, worth R5 800 was stolen from her handbag.
“In the first incident, the woman was in an uMhlanga mall and sat on one of the benches for shopping patrons to rest. We believe the thief sat on the same bench and was able to pluck the victim’s cell phone from her purse before fleeing the scene.
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“In another incident two days earlier, a woman was bumped by a lady attempting to pass the victim in the aisle. She then stopped to apologise and a second suspect standing behind the victim reached into her bag which was placed on top of the trolley, stealing her purse which contained her ID, driver’s licence and R1 000 in cash,” he explained.
Deokaran added while the spike in cases may not be a significant one, police wanted to warn residents of this type of crime.
“The modus operandi for theft of handbags and its contents, normally involve female shoppers leaving their bags on the top of their trolleys. We’ve had more than six incidents since the start of the year. The items mainly targeted are cellphones,” he said.
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Deokaran warned leaving handbags, cellphones and laptops unattended was an open invitation to criminals.
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