Over the past few years, smash-and-grab crimes are becoming more and more prevalent on the roads.
In an investigation piece by e-TV’s Checkpoint, one smash-and-grab criminal agreed to sit down for a very open interview about how criminals commit these crimes.
The interviewee revealed how criminals do it, the best places to do it and who their biggest targets were.
The hotspots, it seems, for this criminal activity is on the roads of central Johannesburg and Pretoria. According to the criminal who goes by the name Skroof, Fordsburg is a lucrative area.
“We prefer attacking them [motorists] on a bridge, so, if they give chase, you go under the bridge and no-one will be able to catch you,” said Skroof.
It is a well-known fact that successful criminals usually make prior preparations for an escape plan. That is why these thieves usually have a getaway car parked under the bridge.
To break into the vehicle, criminals use a spark plug which they refer to as a ‘bomb’. When the spark plug is thrown at a car window, it shatters the window, allowing the criminal to dive in and out of the vehicle quickly.
Also read: Tips to avoid falling prey to smash and grabs at intersections and stop streets
Some do not even wait for the window to shatter completely and reach into the vehicle before the traffic light turns green. Some of them have cuts and scars all over their arms and hands because of this.
For a smash-and-grab job to succeed, it usually takes two people to get the job done. The first guy is the one who walks past your car while you are at a traffic light and quickly peeps in to see if you have anything of value to him.
Once he has identified something, he then signals to his partner who is usually on the other side of the road or following behind, far enough for it to look like it is just another random pedestrian.
Spokesperson for Metro police, Edna Mamonyane said, “You can’t arrest these people for loitering because once you start doing that, you have to try and prove beyond reasonable doubt in court that they were really loitering and a person can just say ‘I was lost’ or ‘I was waiting for my transport’ and the court lets them go free.”
It is important to always stay alert when using the roads but most importantly always make sure that belongings and valuables are out of sight at all times.
