Rather than smashing a window and grabbing what they can, criminals are robbing motorists at gunpoint while they’re stuck in traffic.
Kyle Marais, who works at Caxton’s Johannesburg North office, was in peak afternoon traffic heading north on William Nicol Drive. He had stopped at the intersection of Republic Road at a red light when a man shouted “hey buddy”. His window was open slightly as he was smoking a cigarette and Marais tried to close it, thinking it was a beggar or hawker. The man stopped the window from closing with his hand and then pushed it down.
“He said ‘I don’t want to shoot you’,” said Marais, “Then he reached in and turned off the car. He noticed the GPS and reached for it and I reacted by hitting his hand, then he replied ‘look’, and I said ‘look at what?'” A second man had appeared at his side, pointing a gun. Marais gave them his phone and wallet. They asked for a laptop and Marais told them he didn’t have one.
“By then the robots were about to change and the robber tried to turn the key again but couldn’t. The person behind me started hooting and the guys fled.”
He described the first man as tall, in his early to mid-thirties, wearing a tatty leather jacket. The second man was short, in his mid to late twenties, and wore a yellow Bafana Bafana T-shirt.
Marais said when he reported the incident at the Sandton police station he was told that there had been a few other recent victims of this modus operandi.
Fourways Review reporter Daniella Potter’s story matched Marais’ almost verbatim. She was robbed in April or May at the same location, at the same time of day by three men, two of whom matched Marais’ description. She added that after the men took her phone, occupants of a nearby car rolled their window down and as to cover up their actions one of the robbers said, “Just two rand please madam.” They then fled.
Sandton police spokesperson Captain Kym Cloete confirmed that it was a new trend and added that victims were targeted because their windows were open. She said that hotspots were the intersections along Witkoppen Road and William Nicol Drive in Sandton and Fourways.
My husband was also a victim on William Nicol drive on his way home about two months ago, we read the article on the front page of Sandton Chronicle and realized that these two men were the exact two men that tried to rob my husband of his cellphone whilst sitting in traffic. My husband refused to give them his phone and actually got out of his car to chase after one of these men, what is amazing is that people sitting in traffic got annoyed and hooted as it disturbed the traffic. I think what my husband did was very brave but also could have ended differently but I don’t think these men will shoot someone in the middle of traffic and in broad day light. I think more people must start fighting back.
This is brazen criminality and gives Gauteng a bad rep.
Sandton under siege – Again? Still? –
I shoot you!
What is to be done? Armed robbery is the flavour of the year. It’s easy and relatively safe for the robbers, “Look!” They say “I shoot you. I just want your things.” Who would risk their lives for a cell phone? Then they disappear.
Predictable Behviour
The most predictable robber behaviour pattern is that they will try to get into your safe and try to remove your flat screen TV. That is where you want to have the alarm trigger automatically.
To your staff they say: “Look we don’t want your things and we won’t hurt your boss. We just want their things. Don’t get clever! “
I guess the staff think: “Oh that’s good news then. For a moment I thought we weren’t going to be friends.”
Attack
We were attacked at 6h30 in the morning on Thursday 26th June 2014. Three men gained entrance by holding up the maid and the gardener. The extracted information about the movements of the family. They came in with the maid and after security doors were unlocked and alarms switched off to let the maid in at normal breakfast time, the robbers rushed in with guns.
“Shhhh Keep quiet.” They said. “I shoot you!”said their leader. “ We just want your things. We won’t hurt you!”
Once the three men inside had secured the house they called in their backup and another three men arrived with two white BMWs to add to the get-away convey of our vehicle.
It’s a no brainer that you hand everything over quickly and give them anything they want. 30 minutes later they had taken as much as they could pack into the cars. Computers, cell phones, jewellery, the small amount of cash we had in wallets, Hifi’s and so on.
The modus operandi in our case was that while three men hold up the occupants of the house and all its staff and tie up the males, the other three ransack the house.
These robbers would put the Navy Seals to shame. They have clearly gathered so much experience a skill over the years that they are quite relaxed and confident.
What is to be done to secure our safety when you cannot safely live in peace or drive down the road, or even sit in traffic? We are under siege and the South African Police are strained to keep control. They simply cannot be everywhere and they need vehicles. They need information. They need vigilance.
At the heart of the problem is the fact that disposing of stolen good is extremely easy on the many website that make selling second hand goods easy. We search the web for second hand goods. We are probably feeding the system. Check on what you buy second hand. It seems unlikely that someone who just bought or received a present of a brand new R10 000 cell phone or tablet should want to sell it immediately and 1/5 of its new price.
It is ALSO quite possible that anyone genuinely intent on selling their genuine second hand goods for cash, will be robbed when the “would be buyer” arrives to collect the item and hand over the cash.
Some does and don’ts crystallized from our experience:
DO NOT keep valuables in your safe in your bedroom. If you have a safe, put important looking but useless documents in it. Safes are cheap. Install them in abundance all over the house. Install panics on all.
DO INSTALL more safes in a places where you have the best chance of being seen unlocking – Again you keep junk and useless documents.
DO INSTALL more safes in a places that will take you a while to get to and preferably will take you out of the house.
SURRENDER FIRE ARMS. If you do have a chance to use it there will almost certainly be at least one funeral next Friday and it could be yours. These robbers will probably shoot without thinking and you will probably spend too much time thinking of whether it is morally right.
In order to be convincing in your answers to the robber, you must make sure you don’t have to lie about what is accessible. For example, “I have a safe on my patio, I will take you there!”
Easy security steps to Enable early triggering of alarm.
I think that safes should have a silent panic button system. It is a certainty that you will be asked to open it. That is the most predicable robber behaviour pattern.
DO Bolt down flat screen TV’s and attached to your Hifi and Flat screen TV there should be a silent panic alarm. That they will disturb the TV is a certainty.
DO Have a system with your staff that enables them to warn you. For example “Please let me in!” Your staff will not normally use these words to gain access to the house from day to day. You want to be able to detect unusual behaviour.
DO Put your computers away at night on books or under a cover. It must become a habit.
DO Keep valuable clothing in cupboards they are unlikely to open.
In General
No matter what steps you take, you only buy time. But it seems to me that robbers have worked out that beyond 30 minutes their risk of being disturbed increases exponentially.
Try to avoid a hostage situation. Don’t block their exit. After all you want them to leave as soon as possible but be caught at your gate and not in your house.
The simplest car tracking device is an old cell phone with a Pay As You Go sim card constantly being charged by the car battery.
You put it into a place in the car that will take time to extract. You must put the phone on silent and if possible set it to answer automatically.
THE MOST VALUABLE SECURITY STEP OF ALL
Set up your house so that it takes time to get between safes and valuables.
Keep a spare cell phone in the kitchen (or somewhere) on charge. Put your emergency number on the emergency feature. When the robbers leave they will usually have removed almost all of your lines of communication.
10111 – PHONE THE POLICE FIRST and your security company second – Your armed security company is limited in what they can do to catch robbers. The police have all the resources available. Phone 10111 and get your sector telephone numbers so you don’t have to phone the administrative charge office.
In our case the police arrived in combat mode at the same time as the security company. About 15 minutes response time!
S O I M P O R T A N T !!!
It is inevitable that gangs will complete for domination over Sandton. The pickings are better than anywhere and its “nice work”
Someone will be shot soon! It is certain that sooner or alter something will go wrong. Don’t let it be you!
Every day somewhere in Sandton, someone is being highjacked or attacked in their homes or businesses. Be vigilant and report suspicious behaviour to the sector police.