There has been a notable increase in the Joburg CBD in the number of cases in which men were mugged by gangs that used women as bait, according to Captain Xoli Mbele of Joburg Central Police Station.
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He said police were investigating several cases in which men were robbed while walking home with women they had picked up in taverns. The women, who are more often than not attractive and seductive, use an almost similar modus operandi: they suss out men who drink alone in taverns and offer to join them.
“While they are drinking, they drug the male and leave the tavern with him,” said Mbele. The victim is then waylaid by a male accomplice/s with the intention of robbing the victim in an alley.
Most victims pass out and don’t recall how they got there. “In most cases that we were investigating, the suspects took the [victim’s] vehicle, cellphone and cash and disappeared.”
He gave the following safety tips:
- Don’t trust any person you meet at a tavern
- Don’t leave your drink behind when you go to the loo
- Be careful of women who ask to join you for drinks.
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