Tag: ATM bombings

Police probe explosions at Woolworths, car dealer

Two sites in Athlone and Crawford were still being combed for clues on Friday after a car caught fire and a Woolworths shop window was smashed – possibly both after explosions.

A VW Golf caught fire at around 11.15pm in Belgravia Road, outside Belgravia Autos, and the Woolworths incident followed about 10 minutes later in Kromboom Road, near Jan Smuts Drive.

The two addresses are a few minutes’ walk from each other.

Woolworths reported a large shop window had been smashed, and no injuries had been sustained.

Near the store are a video shop and three ATMS – and there was widespread speculation on Friday morning about whether the explosion could have been a typical “ATM-bombing”.

A resident near the first scene , who asked not to be named, said: “My neighbour is building, and it was quite loud – I thought maybe one of their new windows had broken.

“I was frightened to go too close, but I stood in my garden in my gown and saw lots of cars going to the scene,” she said.

Police would not confirm on Friday whether the incidents were “pipe bombs”, as widely speculated.

Source: IOL

South Africa’s robberies on the increase

Armed_RobberyThe number of aggravated robberies increased by 1.2 percent over the past financial year, Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa said on Thursday.

However, there were still 29.7 percent fewer of these crimes than nine years ago and 18.7 percent less than four years ago, Mthethwa said at the release of the 2012/13 crime statistics in Pretoria.

Residential burglaries increased by 3.3 percent in the past financial year, and non-residential burglaries by 1.7 percent.

He said common robbery decreased by 2.2 percent over the reporting period.

“The role of the community in supplying the necessary information and the patrols of the streets has drastically reduced possibilities of this crime,” he said.

“This is corroborated by swift arrests that have been affected.”

Mthethwa said shoplifting had decreased by 3.9 percent over the same period.

There were also decreases in robberies at non-residential premises, by 0.6 percent, in cash-in-transit robberies, by 20.3 percent, and bank robberies, by 80 percent.

In the 2012/2013 financial year:

— theft out of motor vehicles increased by 3.6 percent;

— commercial crimes increased by 0.6 percent;

— car hijacking increased by 5.4 percent;

— robbery at residential premises increased by 3.6 percent;

— truck hijacking increased by 14.9 percent;

— drug-related crime increased by 13.5 percent; and

— cases of drunk driving, or driving under the influence of drugs, increased by 1.5 percent.

Mthethwa said there was an 18 percent decrease in ATM bombings, from 261 cases in 2011/12 to 214 in 2012/13.

Arson decreased by 8.7 percent over the reporting period.

“Advancement in technology on individual dwellings, the improvement of the infrastructure to reduce informal housing, as well as electricity roll-outs have also assisted in reducing this crime,” Mthethwa said.

There was a 4.1 percent decrease in malicious damage to property and a 4.4 percent decrease in the theft of motor vehicles and motorcycles. – Sapa