The Linden Police are warning the community to be vigilant about pickpocketing and other crimes as the festive season approaches.
Spokesperson Constable Takalani Matumba said, “We recently encountered an incident where a woman was pickpocketed while doing her shopping at Cresta Shopping Centre.”
According to Matumba, the victim was followed by three male suspects who stole her purse from her handbag.
“One of the store employees alerted security after noticing the three suspects pretending to be doing shopping while the other one was pretending to be on the phone.
“The victim was also distracted by the two females while the suspects searched and took her purse from her bag.”
The three suspects were arrested.
Cresta Shopping Centre also commented on the incident saying that they are committed to the safety and security of their shoppers who visit the centre and implore their shoppers to reacquaint themselves with their handy Secure Shopping handbook that includes safety tips for customers.
The handbook can be easily downloaded from the Cresta Shopping Centre website under the shopper services tab entitled, ‘Safety Tips’.
It includes advice about safe car parking behaviour, how to secure your belongings and safety tips for shopping with children among other tips.
Cresta Shopping Centre general manager Virginia Bester said, “We are passionate about making sure our customers are able to shop in a safe and secure environment at Cresta Shopping Centre and that is why we have increased security measures by installing anti-jamming devices in all the parking areas to prevent car jamming, upgraded our CCTV camera network, and improved our exterior lighting.
“Cresta also urges all shoppers to report any suspicious incidents to the on-site security personnel or at the information desk to assist us in acting immediately and swiftly.
“We take the effective safety and security of our shoppers seriously and we look forward to sharing the magic this festive season with our community.”
Matumba continued, “We are advising the community that since we are approaching the festive season people must be more vigilant when they do shopping and always take care of their belongings and be vigilant in public spaces.”
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