By Kaya 959 News
An increase in online shopping, thanks to lockdown, has led to an increase in courier vehicle robberies.
High-tech electronic security group, VaultGroup, said hits on courier vehicles, carrying high-value goods, have become a massive problem over the last few months.
VaultGroup said the latest crime statistics show car and truck hijackings increased by almost 6% and 32% respectively.
In March, police arrested three suspects linked to a number of robberies on courier vans.
SAPS spokesperson, Brigadier Mathapelo Peters, said the men were linked to robberies across Gauteng and Mpumalanga.
In the same month, in Kelvin, a guard was also shot dead when confronted by an armed gang that had targeted a courier vehicle transporting cellphones, valued at R60 million.
In another incident, a courier van was robbed of handsets outside the MTN headquarters in Gauteng.
Increasing risk
Michael Gewer, CEO of VaultGroup, said the courier driver and the support vehicles face increasing risk with gangs of up to 25 hijackers swarming a van with military precision and high-grade weapons.
No longer are these just opportunistic crimes but highly organised attacks that focus on mobile devices that can be quickly sold on the Black Market.
“Business must adapt to remain secure. But this does not come without a cost. Security investments are significant with the knock-on effect of increased prices for the consumer.
“Joint efforts within the industry and police have become essential. There is no one way to fix this but adopting several solutions that can help minimise these criminal threats,” he said.
He said companies must start to think differently about how they approach defensive measures in this regard. It can no longer be ‘every man for himself’.
“This is an industry issue and now is the time to partner with different experts to come up with out-of-the-box solutions that help address this scourge,” he said.
