The installing of more and more street gates to curb crime in the Laudium/Erasmia area has not deterred criminals entering the area and targeting more the areas that are not closed off with these security gates.
In the mainly open areas, crime continues with both petty crime and more serious crime such as armed robberies being a challenge for both residents and businesses in the area. As much as businesses very much want to also close off their areas with gates, they are in a predicament knowing full well that such closure or controlled access will be detrimental for their businesses, thus they have very little option but to keep the streets in their area freely open. This follows another business being robbed by armed thugs, this time in Erasmia, this past Monday night(Oct 28), when management and staff of Best Bazaar Supermarket were attacked and held at gunpoint by five armed thugs, who stole goods and money from their store. Despite the thugs driving two cars into the area, neither the police nor the private security patrollers saw the thugs entering the area or leaving the area. The armed gang attacked the store, located at the Shezan Centre on Grey Street in Erasmia. There are only a few businesses at the small shopping centre with all of them having closed for the day, including the well known Pizza Vera which normally stays open till late, but closes on a Monday night. The thugs pounced on the supermarket shortly before 8pm, which was about an hour before the store’s closing time of 9pm. The store is owned by three brothers, two of whom were present at the time of the robbery. One of the brothers present, Sakib Hak, told the Laudium Sun, “Two vehicles arrived in front of our store, with the one vehicle stopping near where the security was and the other right in front of our entrance. Before we could even do something, a number of black guys jumped out of the cars with guns in their hands.
There were five guys who ran out and I think there were another two, the drivers of each car that were sitting and waiting inside the cars. Two of the thugs ran towards the security. Which I heard later that they hit him and took his cellphone and locked him in the bathroom of the centre. Another three ran into the supermarket. One of the thugs held my brother who was in the front part of the store, at gunpoint, whilst the other two thugs came through to the back part of the store where I was busy packing stock. The one guy pointed a gun at me whilst the other tied my hands with a cable-tie. They then took the staff to one part of the store and made them lay down. The brazen thugs went behind the counter and ransacked it completely, taking everything from cigarettes to general food items to all the money from the till. I’m not too sure of the amount, as we had not yet done our cash up for the day.” Only after the robbers left the scene, did the police and a number of the private security converge at the store. The security guard on duty that night was not on duty when the Laudium Sun went to the store the next morning for a comment.
Sakib added, “We are still traumatised by the robbery. Even though it is now day time we are all so scared that these thugs may come back again. We need better police patrols in our area.” Erasmia CPF chair, Pritesh Bhana was unavailable for comment.
