Cape Town - Nyanga police are warning e-hailing drivers and online Marketplace sellers against venturing to Brown’s Farm, in response to another upsurge in robberies and attacks.
“Nyanga police have recorded numerous robbery cases where Marketplace users and e-hailing drivers fall prey to unscrupulous scammers who lure unsuspecting victims to Brown’s Farm rob and at times attack them,” police spokesperson Novela Potelwa said.
In September 2022, a 51-year-old man was killed after being stabbed during an attack.
In the same month, three suspects were arrested for another robbery in the area.
Meanwhile six teenagers between the ages of 15 and 17 were also apprehended by the Nyanga crime prevention unit on 12 October 12, 2022 for a similar robbery attempt in Brown’s Farm, police said.
“Cellphones confiscated from the arrested teenagers by police as part of their investigation into the attempted robbery revealed the suspects had been chatting to several potential victims. A week thereafter, Nyanga police arrested a 17-year-old teenage girl after a man was robbed as he delivered Marketplace-advertised goods,” said Potelwa.
According to Nyanga station commander, Brigadier Lindiwe Dyantyi, the majority of the robbery victims they had interviewed revealed they do not know the area at all.
“Some of the victims were even under the impression the area they were called out to was not a township but a farm. While the precinct experienced a slight decrease in reported cases after the September/October arrests, the incidents have gone up again. It is on this basis we caution both e-hailing drivers and online sellers to reconsider venturing out to Brown’s Farm,” Dyantyi said.
Nyanga police together with the local Community Police Forum and neighbourhood watch members are patrolling the identified hotspots and deployments have increased.
Anyone with information on the incidents can anonymously contact Crime Stop on 0860010111, or SMS Crime Line on 32211.
Cape Times