Burglars with love for fashion strike again

MALALANE – There has been a second break-in at the John Craig clothing store at Inkwazi Shopping Centre, and no arrests have yet been made. The suspects gained enterance through the roof which they allegedly cut open with an unknown tool. Apparently they were in no rush, as they took their time to open the drop safe. According to complex owner Mr Lex Hollmann’s rants on Facebook, the Malalane SAPS allegedly suggested that there was no John Craig at the shopping centre, which resulted in the suspects having enough time to finish a 2 litre Coca-Cola which had been in the staff fridge.

According to the Johannesburg security company, known as Jocc Security, the alarm was tripped by the burglars. “That’s when I phoned the local SAPS to inform them of the situation. The officer known as Qwabe said there was no shop known as John Craig at the centre,” said Rosa Nelato, the person who received the alert. “I told the officer that we do have a shop under this name at Inkwazi but he refused to believe me. I sent an email to the owner and affected parties with this information. According to my knowledge they did not send a patrol car to investigate.”

Malalane SAPS spokesman Sgt Bheki Nkosi said, “This is the second burglary at this shop. The police did perform a primary investigation the night of the incident. However, they did not see anything suspicious.” According to Nkosi, the criminals were hiding behind closed doors. “The suspects were in a small room at the back of the shop where the safe was kept, therefore officers could not see them and they could not enter the retailer. Therefore they had to investigate through the windows with flashlights.” He added that the manager of the store reported the burglary at the station the next day.