A HIJACKING as well as several business and home burglaries were reported in the Highway area during the past week, according to Blue Security’s crime statistics.
The operations manager for the company, Brian Jackson, said a Gillitts resident was hijacked outside her driveway gate in Blue Gum Crescent at 6am on Thursday morning.
“The hijackers fled in her Ford bakkie which also contained cash and other valuables,” he said. He noted that contact crimes had declined in the past week, he urged residents to remain vigilant as several crimes had been reported in Gillits, Westville, Pinetown and Waterfall.
“In one incident in Dumbrill Crescent in Farningham Ridge, two thieves forced open a driveway gate and stole a vehicle that was parked on the property. In another incident in Kloof a vehicle was stolen from the parking lot of a local shopping centre,” he said.
Housebreakers targeted properties in Gillitts Road in Pinetown, Nelson Road in Westville, Old Main Road and Halstead Road in Gillitts, Gevers Road in Assagay and Marion Road in West Riding.
“Most of the incidents occurred in the evening between 6pm and 8pm and in the early morning before 6am,” he said. “Robbers forced their way into the properties by breaking down doors and removing window panes before they fled the scenes with computers, tools, cash, a laptop and jewellery,” he said.
Jackson urged residents to install an early warning system to their existing alarm to make it more difficult for criminals to enter the property undetected.
“An early warning system is the best form of security as it alerts you and your security company to the presence of an intruder and buys you time to go and lock your family in a ‘safe room’. The safe room should be equipped with a spare panic remote and a charged cellphone so that you can call your security company and the police in case of an emergency,” he said.
