Johannesburg - Three major syndicates operating countrywide have been smashed by a dedicated police task team that has spent a year focusing on a growing problem: cellular store robberies.
Last year, Gauteng provincial commissioner Lieutenant-General Lesetja Mothiba admitted that in August alone there were 11 mall robberies, just a small chunk of the number of such crimes recorded last year.
Police have now confirmed that the most common targets in the attacks are jewellery and cellphone outlets. In the most recent incident at Clearwater Mall north west of Joburg earlier this month, police foiled a group of trigger-happy robbers trying to hijack a truck fully loaded with Apple products.
This prompted multiple units in the SAPS to team up with major cellphone companies - Telkom, MTN, Cell C, Vodacom and iStore - to find out who was behind the brazen crimes. They identified three syndicates operating across the country, national police spokesman, Lieutenant-General Solomon Makgale said.
Among them was The Navara Group, which were involved in at least nine armed robberies between May and June last year. The group is named for their use of a black Nissan Navara bakkie and white Quantum bus during their heists.
Since six of the gang’s members were arrested in June last year, it is believed the remaining suspects were operating in Cape Town. But according to Makgale, the group was completely neutralised and no more robberies have been recorded.
The second syndicate, the Juke Group - disguising themselves by using large hats - had 20 members rotating duties at each robbery. Between September and December 2014, the SAPS arrested 14 of the gangsters in 20 centralised cases.
