Pretoria West police warn filling stations about recent robberies
"Garages who operate 24-hours become easy targets for criminals."
Three petrol stations in Pretoria West were robbed on the same day, police said.
“We not sure if these people are working together and no one has been arrested following the incidents,” police spokesperson Sibongile Vuma said.
Vuma said garages that operate 24-hours a day are easy targets for robbers.
“This has happened in three garages and the criminals can still come and attack the ones they have not attacked.
The station has therefore called on filling stations in the area to beef up their security.
“This message was also directed to garage owners in our neighbouring areas such as Hercules and Atteridgeville because when criminals see we are aware of them, they move to other areas.”
She said in some of the garages, customers were allowed to walk in anytime at night.
“This poses a lot of danger; we want to advise them to at least consider selling through a window at night. It is not easy to point a gun at a cashier through a window to demand money.
“We also advise them to at least hire two people to work at night, so one can see what is happening around them because when you are alone it is not easy to do so.”
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Vuma said garage owners should also fit their garages with the best possible cameras so that if there were a robbery, the criminals are easily identified.
“The placing of their outside camera is also very important because sometimes when we look at footage from outside cameras, and that footage is not clear. The images are so blurred that you cannot see clearly.
“The cameras should have a range of at least maybe 1.5 meters from the garage. This will help a lot with investigations.”
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