Following a spate of Laudium businesses that have reportedly been broken into by thieves recently, yet another Laudium business was targeted this past week, in Laudium, which is incidentally also owned by foreign nationals.
Despite the spate of attacks, by criminals, on local businesses, the local police do not seem to have any clue as to how to catch and arrest the culprits involved and also how to stop or at least lessen the high crime rate in the area, resulting in many business owners losing confidence in the ability of the local police to fight crime effectively.
Indian nationals, Nilesh Parekh and his family member Krishan Sara of Carmine Str, Laudium, own a fast food outlet and hair salon, respectively, and share premises on 13th Ave. Nilesh spoke to the Laudium Sun about his shocking find, when he opened his fast food business, ‘RV Fast Food’ last Saturday, (Feb 26). “That Saturday morning when I arrived from home at around 8am, I didn’t notice anything strange as the shop’s front doors and locks were all intact and looked normal. But, when I got into the shop after opening the front door, I was stunned to find the shop in a mess. There were bread rolls and other food thrown onto the floor and the place had been ransacked. I immediately realized that thieves had entered my shop during the night, but could not understand how they got in. So, I went towards the back door to check if the thieves had not broken in from there, then I noticed that the door leading to the kitchen area, which I also keep locked at night, was damaged and my three plate and two plate gas stoves and gas tanks were missing. I looked further and found that the back door had been forced open and the locks were broken. I then went to the side of the salon and discovered that the thieves had even broken into Krishan’s business, but did not steal much there. Together, we then checked our CCTV footage and saw two guys carrying out my gas stove and gas bottle at around 5:30am in the morning. They jumped over the gate and forced opened the side back door, breaking the chain and lock, also using that entrance, which is common to both sides of our shops to get into the salon as well. The CCTV cameras clearly show how fast these guys carried out all the things they stole, including a microwave oven and a fan. There were three to four guys involved and they all looked like nyaopes. Crime in Laudium is very, very high and is getting out of hand and it seems these criminals are mainly targeting shops owned by foreign nationals. It is common for these thieves to also enter from the roof, so even all our burglar gates do not help. How are we going to stop all this crime here in Laudium? The police are also a problem and do not seem to be interested in catching these criminals. All they do is open a case and tell us that they will investigate it. After a week, we won’t ever hear from them again. So, it’s pointless even going to the police station.”
When asked about the matter, Sergeant Simon Chokoe told the Laudium Sun that he was unaware of the incident as there was no case opened.
CCTV camera footage shows thieves carrying the 3 plate gas burner and gas canister out.
