DURBAN North SAPS has expressed their concern at the number of house robberies and burglaries occurring in their policing precinct.
This after an armed robbery in uMhlanga on Friday morning, where a house-sitter was tied up bringing the number of armed robberies to nine in recent weeks. There has also been a number of break-ins (Northglen News has reported on) in the last three weeks. On the same morning, a house was burgled in Durban North bringing the number to 12 in the last 21 days.
According to Capt Raymond Deokaran, spokesman for the station, the homeowner’s vehicles were both stolen.
“The suspects surprised the man before tying him up. They spent almost two hours in the home stealing various items including the homeowner’s Black VW Amarok. A case of house robbery has been opened by Durban North SAPS,” he said.
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Deokaran was concerned about the spike in crime but said police had measures in place to tackle the gangs targeting the area.
“We are working on crime initiatives which the station commander and our crime prevention unit has formulated. We cannot give too much away but we have members of the Durban North/Umhlanga CPF as well as local security companies helping us out with nightly patrols. We’ve increased the number of patrols by increasing our capacity out on the street. Many of our administration staff have been added to the daily patrols. We are concerned as there has been a spike but we believe we can turn the corner.
“On a daily basis we have two stop and searches which is part of our visible policing initiative. We also have two roadblocks a day as well as a cordon-and-search operation a week. At any time we have five crime prevention vehicles as well as three patrol vehicles helping out. I understand residents are frustrated but we are doing everything we can to prevent further crimes in the area,” he said.
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