Johannesburg - Police are hard at work trying to tie up the loose ends of a mega gang that has waged a reign of terror in Joburg shopping malls.
More than 32 suspects have been arrested over the past few months, but detectives believe the rest of the gang have been behind a series of mall robberies, targeting cellphone shops in Gauteng and the Western Cape, police spokesman Lieutenant-General Solomon Makgale said on Monday.
The robbers in one raid where shots were fired inside the Hyde Park shopping centre last month have now been linked by CCTV footage to at least six other armed robberies and two attempted robberies in malls around Joburg.
It wasn’t just police who identified the brazen gang, but also victims of the gang’s crimes who were determined to put a stop to the crime spree.
The most recent attack was on March 30, when the gang tried to gain entry to Jack Friedman Jewellers’ head office in Eastgate Office Towers.
Staff thought the man offering promotional material at the gate looked suspicious, particularly because a woman was watching him in the corridor, so they didn’t let him in.
When he eventually decided to leave, three men followed the couple out, said chief executive Howard Friedman.
Just one week earlier, on March 19, cellphones and iPads worth R1.5 million were stolen from the Vodacom store in Hyde Park. It is believed that up to seven gang members were involved.
Police spokesman Lieutenant Kay Makhubela said that on their way out of the store, they had started shooting randomly. Luckily, no one had been injured.
As soon as he heard about the robbery, jeweller Andreas Salver went to the Vodacom shop with stills of six robbers from CCTV footage taken at his shop in February.
He asked the Vodacom staff if they recognised any of the men from the photos. Staff member Mathew Day said there was no doubt: two of the men that had robbed Salver had robbed the Vodacom store.
Friedman said his staff also recognised the people who had tried to gain entry to his office as the same people involved in Salver’s robbery.
Salver’s jewellery shop, at the Coachman’s Crossing shopping centre in Bryanston, was robbed of R3 million in stock in February.
Police have not been able to help Salver trace the gang, even though they are still using one of his cellphones.
The CCTV footage of the robbery was clear enough for him to get stills of each gang member, and he put the footage up on social media.
Jason Rom, who works at 1 Two 1 Cellular in the Colony shopping centre in Craighall Park, immediately recognised the suspects. His cellphone store had been robbed three times between October 2013 and July last year by men who he is certain are members of the same gang.
After the first robbery, Hillbrow police had caught three men with AK-47s in their possession, Rom said. In a line-up, staff had identified them as the robbers. But when the case went to the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court, the CCTV footage was thrown out and the men were released.
Rom knew this only when he saw Salver’s footage and recognised the same three alleged robbers. He then called the investigating officer, and was told that the men had been released.
Rom recognised the other three alleged criminals in Salver’s robbery, linking them to the second robbery that took place at his shop.
“This is a very well-organised gang. It’s sad that when they get caught, they are let out of court on technicalities. They just carry on robbing,” Rom said.
Another man who recognised the suspects from Salver’s footage was Rudi Campbell, from Gerald Francis Jewellers in Broadacres.
The men had rung his doorbell a week after Salver’s robbery.
“I didn’t let them past the front door, but from our footage, we recognised six of them as being the same men who had robbed Andreas,” Campbell said.
A week after the attempted robbery, Cabouchon Jewellers, in the Nicolway Centre, was hit. Staff there recognised two of the men from Salver’s photos.
Salver turned to crime-fighting organisation eBlockwatch in an effort to get the gang recognised.
Andre Snyman from eBlockwatch said this was a perfect example of what networking can do. “Eblockwatch collects information, puts the dots together and then points the police in the right direction,” Snyman said.
*If any of the above suspects are spotted, people can call Crime Stop on 08600 10111.
The Star