Despite, high fences, alarms and even guard dogs, residents in the Laudium, Erasmia and Claudius areas, continue to fall prey to crime, with seemingly no end in sight to the problem. In one of the latest reports of crime, residents were in complete shock, when news of not just one break-in, but four break-ins at the gated and walled off Claudius area, which is seemingly well protected, went viral on social media platforms. What was more surprising, is that it later emerged that not only the four incidents of crime had taken place, but that there were in fact five incidents, four at residential flats and the other at the Al Asr School in Claudius.
Tenant at Amaan Villas flats, on Simla Street, Safeeya Mohamed, told the Laudium Sun of the incident that took place last Thursday (August 26) during the early hours of the morning, at around 02h00. “Whilst we were all sleeping, something strange happened in the early morning of Thursday, in our flat. I heard a noise coming from the back of our flat, towards the bathroom. I quickly switched on the lights and checked everywhere what the noise was about. At no stage did it enter my mind that the noise was a result of someone breaking into our place, as the whole area is well secured and walled off, with guards on motorbikes patrolling all the time. I was shocked to discover after checking everywhere that our flat had been broken into. The thieves managed to steal small items like my son’s game station and other items. It seemed that they entered our place via the back kitchen window, which was removed. I think they were disturbed when I switched on the lights. Thankfully, we were not harmed. I heard later that the thieves also broke into my neighbour’s flat, ransacking it and stole a lot of items, as the neighbours were not home at the time. I also heard that they tried to break into two other flats in the area. I do not know exactly how many thieves there were, but it so scary to think that there were thieves in our flat, whilst we were asleep. I do not know who these thieves were and how they managed to get into Claudius, as the place is gated and very secure, or at least that’s what I thought until this incident. I would have said it was an inside job, but at our flats, we do not have any domestic workers who sleep over. It is very confusing and also since I moved here into this new flat from April, this is the first time that such an incident has happened.”
Imraan Ahmed of the Claudius Residents Association (CRA) and former Laudium CPF chairperson, said, “Basically four flats were burgled, but there was no sign of breach on our outer walls or security fencing, nothing. So we are suspecting that it could be someone from the inside, as no cars came in and no cars went out, during the times of the unfortunate incidents. So, it is somebody that has to be residing within the estate. The modus operandi was the same at all four flats. They removed the aluminum window to get in and luckily did not harm anyone, thank the Almighty. It is difficult to say, whether there was only one or more than one intruder. Police forensics came in and took fingers prints. I hope they will come with results soon. They ransacked one flat because the occupant was not there. Of the four flats that were invaded by the thieves or a thief, two flats were in Amaan Villas. They stole laptops, cellphones, an iPad and shoes from the one flat and a few small items from the other flat. The other two flats were in Claudius Hills, where the thieves were seemingly disturbed and did not take anything.”
*Despite the area being a secured estate, there have been a number of incidents of theft reported in the area, over a period of time.
