Brigadier Alan Billings, station commander at the Sandton Police Station said there were two types of theft out of motor vehicles – remote jamming and smash and grabs.
“People are still leaving their valuables visible in their vehicles,” said Billings.
According to Billings, people posing as hawkers, pamphlet distributors, loiterers and beggars at traffic lights, use the Bakelite from spark-plugs to smash windows quickly and easily.
“They grab what they want and disappear quickly.”
Captain Kym Cloete, spokesperson for the Sandton police said the thieves would take anything that they could get hold of. “Phones, handbags, laptops – they will take anything of value that you leave in plain sight,” said Cloete.
Cloete confirmed that Maxwell Drive and Woodmead Drive were hotspots for smash and grabs. All intersections with Witkoppen Road are also considered hotspots, as well as all off-ramps and on-ramps to the highways.
The smash and grabs generally occur in early evening, when traffic is at its worst.
