Johannesburg - Police may have made a breakthrough on Tuesday morning by nabbing a gang of robbers with possible links to the recent spate of mall robberies across Gauteng.
Police raided two properties in Brixton and Doornfontein. Officers arrested four men and recovered a 9mm pistol, three semi-automatic rifles and 97 live rounds of ammunition.
“The investigation is in its early stages but they will eventually face charges of illegal possession of firearms and ammunition,” police spokesman Brigadier Neville Malila said on Tuesday morning.
He said the guns had been linked to those used in Saturday’s robbery at the Black Chain Mall in Diepkloof, Soweto, where a security guard was shot dead and four other people were injured.
“We’re also investigating whether they were used in any other mall robberies,” Malila said.
Since August 13, at least 10 malls and shopping centres across Gauteng have been the targets of robberies.
During a media briefing on Tuesday morning, Gauteng police commissioner Lieutenant-General Lesetja Mothiba said most of the recent mall robberies in Gauteng have targeted technical gadgets.
“ (In) 95 percent of robberies so far, cellphones are the target. Cash is minimal,” Mothiba told reporters.
“In two incidents cash was (stolen). Both incidents occurred in Soweto: one at Maponya mall and another at the Black Chain shopping centre in Diepkloof.”
He said ways of rendering stolen cellphones useless should be looked into. Security measures at some malls were not up to standard.
“As things stand, these criminals committed these crimes very easily.”
Mall security was a joint approach between the police and mall management.
“We would want to see mall security taking that seriously,” he said.
“We have set up meetings with mall management to beef up security... as well as looking at their security systems at the premises.”
Mothiba said the CCTV footage at some of the malls was of poor quality, and in some instances cameras were not switched on.
A reward of R200 000 has been offered for information leading to the arrest and successful prosecution of the criminals.
Two independent criminologists said they believed these mall robberies were the work of a syndicate. Rudolph Zinn, a professor in policing and forensic investigations at Unisa, said syndicates would recruit several criminals, including some from outside their own gang.
“They would rotate people so it’s not easy to identify them on CCTV. They would even rotate the guns (they use). It’s very professional,” Zinn said, adding that it was difficult to fight mall robbers because you could not fire at them in case you hit a member of the public.
“It’s highly probable that it’s one group that did it once and they’re now refining their techniques,” said Dr Jackie de Wet, a lecturer at the criminology and forensic studies department at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
Zinn said the timing of the robberies was unusual as these gangs normally acted around Easter or December when there was more spending, and therefore more cash.
De Wet said this indicated the gang was skilled at “adapting” to their environment.
“If they aren’t caught, then I’m pretty sure, going into the silly season, they will target the cash first,” he said. “They are going to get more practised, refine their techniques and get better at getting away.”
De Wet said it was difficult to investigate such robberies because the gangs generally left no evidence behind and hid their faces from CCTV. It is also a difficult crime to fight with intelligence due to the number of malls across Gauteng.
But De Wet said the majority of these gangs slipped up eventually.
“They might start living lavishly and police have informants everywhere,” De Wet said.
The Star and Sapa