It is evident that together with the high rate of petty crime in the Laudium/Erasmia area, more serious crimes such as armed robberies, where residents are forced to surrender their hard earned money or valuables, are on the increase.
However, despite pleas from the community, pleading for more visible police patrols in the area, as residents remain living in fear, police seemingly have a ‘don’t care attitude’ to such pleas, as the community has not been addressed by either the police or the respective CPF’s, as to how the concerns of residents are being tackled.
As mentioned before, the community certainly does not expect police to reveal actual crime combatting plans, but the least the community expects, is feedback on matters such as whether more police personnel and patrolling vehicles will be put out and also what had happened to the dedicated vehicles per police sector, that was implemented a few years back. Communication to the community is certainly the key word, but alas, seemingly the local cops have no idea what that means. Concerning the increase in armed robberies, an Erasmia bakery, that supplies bread to retail shops, trading on the corner of Fortuna and Sonneblom Streets, was attacked this past Sunday (Nov 21) at around 11:30am, by 5 armed thugs. Bilal Saiyed, the manager of Zam Zam Bakery, told the Laudium Sun, “At around 11:30 in the morning, as we were doing our daily work of baking bread which we supply to cafes and supermarkets. All of a sudden, 5 guys came into our place. The first thing they took is the car keys of my colleague, which were lying on the table. We found it very strange that instead of them attacking us or searching us, they went straight to the car. Some of us ran behind them and we tried to stop one of them, while one of my other colleagues was calling the police and security companies patrolling the area. But, when we tried to stop the one guy, three of the other thugs pointed guns at us. One of them even shot at us, trying to scare us. But luckily, by that time, the security guys came and these thugs scattered in different directions, making a run and leaving the car behind. Fortunately, we managed to catch one of the thugs and another was arrested by the security guys. The other thugs ran towards Sonneblom Str to the open veld. I heard later that the same gang could have been involved in a robbery at a cafe and just wanted a car to get away. Crime in Erasmia is extremely high and the place is becoming very dangerous. These thugs could have shot and killed one of us, just like that. Our lives are at risk and it is becoming more and more difficult to do business here. If crime continues like this, then we will have to close and our staff will be out of a job and unable to feed their families. The police have to do something about this horrible crime. They should at least do more patrolling of the streets. It will make us feel a little safer.”
Abram Appel from COPS Tactical said, “I was on duty on Sunday morning, doing patrols in Erasmia when someone told me there was a robbery at the Bakery. I went down to the corner of Fortuna and Sonneblom Street. As I got there, I saw four suspects run out of the store. One suspect, tried to get away, by trying to steal a VW Golf parked outside the bakery. I blocked the vehicle and apprehended him, with the help of community members.”
Constable Tumisang Moloto, of the Erasmia SAPS, said, “A case of armed robbery has been opened and police are investigating. It is alleged that five suspects entered the premises of a Fortuna Street bakery shop. Two suspects were caught and they will appear in the Atteridgeville Court soon.”
