It seems that some criminals are following local residents who have moved out from the Laudium/Erasmia area, due to the high crime.
As more residents are moving into the so called secured nearby estates in the Raslouw/Eldoraign/Stoneridge areas and now shop at places nearer to their new homes, criminals are now also targeting these business centres.
In an effort to warn residents who have since moved into these areas, not to lose their guard when shopping in these new areas, the Laudium Sun received an alert from a reader, of a theft at one of the businesses at Raslouw Corner.
This follows a pair of thieves entering the business of ‘Roots and Froots,’ the previous Thursday morning at around 11:30am. The thieves, a black male and female, pretended to be customers and managed to distract a female staff member who was alone at the time in the shop. It was only after the thieving pair had left the shop, that the staff member who had left her cellphone on the counter, shortly before assisting the pair, realised that her Samsung phone was missing.
Laila Rasheed, the owner of Roots & Froots at Raslouw Corner, told the Laudium Sun, “I was not in the shop when the theft happened. I received a phone call from one of my neighbouring shop owners, informing me that an incident had taken place and that one of my staff members had lost her phone. When I rushed to the shop, I immediately saw that my staff member was in tears, clearly frightened and shaken. She then explained to me what had happened in detail. According to her, two Black persons, one male and one female, pretended to be customers and entered the shop as if they were genuinely looking to buy some items. They asked my staff member for assistance, thus my staff member left her phone at the till counter and proceeded to assist them, as they requested to see a few products from the different shelves. My staff member, trying to help them as she always does with customers, began showing them the items they asked for. During this time, her phone was on the till counter, where she had placed it while assisting them. While my staff member was focused on showing the female the items, the male thief went towards the till area and that is when it is believed that her phone was stolen. Everything happened so fast that she had no idea what was going on behind her. The two crime partners then acted normal for a few minutes, pretending to still be browsing and shortly after, they both walked out of the shop casually, as if nothing had happened. It was only after a few minutes, when my staff member returned to the counter, that she realised her phone was missing. By the time we tried to trace the thieves, it was already too late. They were nowhere to be found and they had disappeared from the area very quickly. I felt extremely sorry for my staff member because the phone was important to her and she was very emotional about the entire situation. Crime in this area was not so bad before, but nowadays it is really picking up and incidents like this are becoming more common. With December also approaching, I guess all shopkeepers need to be more vigilant, aware and alert at all times. We are all trying our best to run our businesses peacefully, but criminals are making things harder for us.”
Edris Patel from ‘The Meat Ark’ also at Raslouw Corner told the Laudium Sun, “I heard that the staff member from Roots & Froots lost her phone and it was quite shocking for all of us who work in this complex. I don’t understand how something like this could happen, especially because we have a lot of security around this area. There are guards, cameras and regular patrols, yet crimes are still happening in our surroundings. It makes all of us who work here feel a bit unsafe, because if a phone can be taken so easily, then anything is possible. This place has always been known as a quiet and peaceful area where shopkeepers and workers could do their daily business without worrying too much. But now, as things are changing and December is approaching, we all have to become more careful. December is a busy month and many criminals take advantage of the crowds and the distractions. The people of this entire complex must work together to prevent such incidents from happening again.”
Calvin Pillay, an employee from Mac Build at Raslouw Corner, told the Laudium Sun, “As we are next-door neighbours, this whole situation is really frightening for us too. We all come to work hoping for a peaceful day, but incidents like this remind us that we really need to be careful at all times. We all have to pay close attention and carefully watch our customers so that we can understand who is genuine and who might not be. It is not always easy to tell, because people come in pretending to be normal customers and before you know it, something has already happened. That is why we must stay alert and aware of everything happening around us, whether inside the shop or outside. Working in a busy complex like Raslouw Corner, we interact with many different people every day. Most of them are good and genuine, but unfortunately, there are always a few who come in with bad intentions. This incident is a reminder that we cannot relax or assume everything is safe. We must all remain vigilant, look out for one another and try our best to prevent anything like this from happening again.”
