Residents living in coastal villages along the east coast have come forward saying they are under siege from sophisticated criminal gangs targeting their homes.
And a Chintsa security company owner, who asked not to be named for fear of revenge attacks, told the Daily Dispatch yesterday that highly organised thieves were targeting Chintsa East and other areas.
The owner claims he has arrested “many” members of a gang and has received a string of death threats as a result.
He accused police of letting residents down.
“Why can’t the police form a task team to look into this? They are in denial of the syndicate.
“It exists and they know it because we always arrest the gang members and cases are opened with the police.”
According to the security company boss, the syndicate is part of a national ring that involves criminals operating in suburbs in Cape Town, Johannesburg and even Mthatha.
“You would find them in Quigney pretending to be legitimate business people running shops and salons, but that is often just fronting.”
He said the group, which had also targeted areas including Gonubie, Haga Haga and Beacon Bay, were highly organised and planned their hits carefully.
“They use high-tech tools to break into houses,” he said.
Provincial police spokeswoman Brigadier Marinda Mills said: “We reiterate that the SAPS has not identified a syndicate operating in the East London area.
“On a daily basis arrests for housebreaking are made and it has not come to the fore that a specific group or gang are involved in an organised fashion.
“We also have no confirmation of specific groups or neighbourhoods being targeted.
“Crime information is analysed on a daily, weekly and monthly basis to determine crime patterns and tendencies. We will indeed follow up on the allegations from the security companies. However, the SAPS is perturbed that this information has not been shared with us in our weekly meetings.”
In one of the most recent incidents, shaken Glen Eden Estate homeowner Mandy Lindhorst said thieves broke into her house last week while she was sleeping upstairs with her partner and their three dogs. She believes they were drugged during the incident early last Friday morning.
“There was no way our dogs would not bark. They drugged us.
“I woke up the next morning an hour later than normal.
“We looked around and noticed my boyfriend’s cellphone, notepad and laptop were gone.”
The Chintsa security company owner said thieves often used pepper spray on dogs.
“It doesn’t matter if you have a pack of vicious dogs, if sprayed with pepper spray, the dogs flee.”
There was a burglary attempt nearby the same night Lindhorst was hit. An alarm went off and they fled, said Lindhorst. — malibongwed @dispatch.co.za
Hi-tech thieves ‘drugged us’
And a Chintsa security company owner, who asked not to be named for fear of revenge attacks, told the Daily Dispatch yesterday that highly organised thieves were targeting Chintsa East and other areas.
The owner claims he has arrested “many” members of a gang and has received a string of death threats as a result.
He accused police of letting residents down.
“Why can’t the police form a task team to look into this? They are in denial of the syndicate.
“It exists and they know it because we always arrest the gang members and cases are opened with the police.”
According to the security company boss, the syndicate is part of a national ring that involves criminals operating in suburbs in Cape Town, Johannesburg and even Mthatha.
“You would find them in Quigney pretending to be legitimate business people running shops and salons, but that is often just fronting.”
He said the group, which had also targeted areas including Gonubie, Haga Haga and Beacon Bay, were highly organised and planned their hits carefully.
“They use high-tech tools to break into houses,” he said.
Provincial police spokeswoman Brigadier Marinda Mills said: “We reiterate that the SAPS has not identified a syndicate operating in the East London area.
“On a daily basis arrests for housebreaking are made and it has not come to the fore that a specific group or gang are involved in an organised fashion.
“We also have no confirmation of specific groups or neighbourhoods being targeted.
“Crime information is analysed on a daily, weekly and monthly basis to determine crime patterns and tendencies. We will indeed follow up on the allegations from the security companies. However, the SAPS is perturbed that this information has not been shared with us in our weekly meetings.”
In one of the most recent incidents, shaken Glen Eden Estate homeowner Mandy Lindhorst said thieves broke into her house last week while she was sleeping upstairs with her partner and their three dogs. She believes they were drugged during the incident early last Friday morning.
“There was no way our dogs would not bark. They drugged us.
“I woke up the next morning an hour later than normal.
“We looked around and noticed my boyfriend’s cellphone, notepad and laptop were gone.”
The Chintsa security company owner said thieves often used pepper spray on dogs.
“It doesn’t matter if you have a pack of vicious dogs, if sprayed with pepper spray, the dogs flee.”
There was a burglary attempt nearby the same night Lindhorst was hit. An alarm went off and they fled, said Lindhorst. — malibongwed @dispatch.co.za
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