Remote jamming continues unabated

REMOTE jammers are once again on the prowl in the upmarket uMhlanga Village area. Yet another victim has spoken about her ordeal that unfolded on Thursday, 24 July.

And police say its a worrying problem. Durban North SAPS spokesman, Lt Raymond Deokaran, confirmed that cases of thefts out of motor vehicle were regularly reported by victims.

“A lot of the cases reported to the station happened at the malls in the uMhlanga Village. If there’s no forced entry into the car, then we assume it’s remote jamming,” Lt Deokaran said.

The latest victim of remote jamming, Preshena Sookoo, said she went about her shopping at Granada Square in the uMhlanga Village at about 5pm on two weeks ago when she fell victim to remote jammers in the undercover parking lot of the centre.

“My valuables such as my laptop, work cellphone and cameras were stolen from my boot, parked in their undercover parking, while I was shopping,” she said.

Sookoo said she approached centre management, but added that their response has been ‘unacceptably lax’.

“I have now found out that this is not the first incident of this nature and has happened on many previous occasions, yet the centre has not taken any steps to warn loyal customers, such as myself, of the current issues in the parkade,” she said.

Beetle Retail’s Carmen Snyman (Public Relations company for the centre) said: “At Granada Square, our primary concern is the safety of our shoppers. The layout of the centre is not suited to CCTV, however we have three permanent guards patrolling our parking areas as well as a security supervisor who briefs all employees, including cleaning and parking staff, on monitoring suspicious activity.”

Snyman said with all guards on the floor instead of viewing security footage, the centre has been able to ensure a good response time to incidents at the centre.

“While we are aware that remote jamming is on the increase in the area, at our centre we only have two recorded incidents. We take pride in the low number of incidents at Granada Square and believe that this is a direct result of our highly visible and effective security.”

“We again urge shoppers to check their vehicles have been locked, to ensure that no valuables have been left in their vehicles and to be aware of remote jamming,” said Durban North SAPS spokesman, Lt Raymond Deokaran.