An incident took place at Cresta Shopping Centre on 5 June where a car was broken into and dismantled at car park entrance four which is confirmed to be a hotspot for car incidents.
Captain Alex Vermaak of the Linden Police confirmed that an attempted hijacking took place, he said that there have had complaints about similar incidents at Cresta Shopping Centre. “We do have sector vehicles patrolling inside Cresta parking lots but it is also difficult because it gets busy. When there is an emergency elsewhere, it is difficult for the vehicles to exit,” said Capt Vermaak.
Capt Vermaak advised people who are driving targeted cars such as Toyotas and Volkswagens to take extra precaution and install more than one tracker if they can. He said that there was no security failure due to the number of security guards available and the number of cars parked, they cannot attend to every single car at once. He also mentioned that usually the car would be taken first and then stripped elsewhere. “They were looking for the tracking device when they dismantled the car,” he said. He concluded that the case is still under investigation.
Cresta Shopping Centre’s general manager Virginia Bester said that they are aware of the country-wide syndicate targeting Toyota vehicles and they take their presence seriously. “We are currently on course to identify and unmask the syndicate by implementing procedures to prevent their actions,” she said.
Bester said that the centre has had to stray from the traditional methods for security and embrace innovative systems to manage this. She said that shoppers can be assured that vehicle anti-jamming systems have been installed and they have also streamlined the security response system to dramatically shorten the response time by centre security and local authorities.
A copy of a list of preventative measures, is available at the information desk and shoppers are urged to familiarise themselves with the brochure, the general manager advised.
“We appreciate all the feedback received from the community and the continued support offered by the local police which prevents the centre from becoming an easy victim to syndicates targeting centres our size,” concluded Bester.
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