Team work saves the day

Quick detective work combined with the efforts of several role players stopped alleged shoplifters in their tracks at Mall of the North recently, showing that the mall community is not to be trifled with. Security Supervisor at Urban Africa’s Mall of the North outfit, Joel Moketla, says he was in the security control room when a call came in from a tenant that three men stole clothing from the store. “I searched the CCTV footage and found the three suspects getting into a blue Ford Fiesta, jumped into a golf cart and drove around until I found them close to the mall entrance in Munnik Avenue.”
As soon as he found the alleged perpetrators, the three men left the car and entered the mall again, this time from another entrance. “I called Security Officer Emmanuel Dlamini to clamp the wheel. We realised that there were actually five suspects with two in the car. One ran away. We gave chase, but decided that our priority was to recover the stolen goods and we returned to the vehicle to wait for the others,” Moketla explains.
The second man also exited the vehicle and ran toward the gate in Munnik Avenue. “Again we decided to wait for the others and recover the stolen goods. However, the suspect soon started walking instead of running and I called Security Officer Lucky Peu, who was soon in hot pursuit. What makes the effort so special is that two trolley assistants and a parking attendant also chased after the man.”
The alleged shoplifter was too fast for Peu and his helpers and Moketla asked a customer to help catch the man by giving Peu a lift in his vehicle. “It was wonderful to see how willing he was to help. Together he and Peu caught the man on the N1 bypass bridge next to the mall,” Moketla says, adding that Dlamini clamped the car while the others gave chase.
“I recognised one of the men from the footage that I saw earlier and a parking assistant jumped over the mall fence to apprehend him. Another one came out of the mall and started running. Dlamini and two trolley assistants quickly caught him.” Moketla arrested the three men and called the police. Two suspects could not be apprehended. All of the purported stolen items were recovered from the vehicle.
The supposed shoplifters targeted five high end clothing and jewellery stores and stole merchandise worth over R166 000. Moketla received a certificate for outstanding service and Mall of the North vouchers in recognition of his excellent coordination of the operation.
“We at Mall of the North are like a family and even our customers do not hesitate to jump in and help catch would be shoplifters. This was truly a team effort.”

Story and photo: MARKI FRANKEN
>>marki.observer@gmail.com