Another week and yet again more crime in the Laudium/Erasmia has been reported to the Laudium Sun.
While the actual crime stats on a daily or weekly basis are not known as the local police do not give out any stats on crime in the area, the Laudium Sun depends on residents to give information on crime, for stats purposes, so that all those living in the area are informed, warned and can take the necessary precautions wherever possible. In one of the latest incidents of crime and in particular, petty crime, two local Indian males have been implicated in the theft of a ‘charity collection tin’ that was kept at the counter of a local shop. The tin, one of many belonging to the Bilal Mosque, was kept at the Doyan General Dealer shop, in the effort to raise money for the Mosque, in order to assist in covering their expenses. Customers frequenting the shop on Ada Street in Erasmia often placed lose change into the tin, which was fairly full at the time of the theft. According to reports, two Indian males arrived in a blue Toyota at the shop last Wednesday afternoon (Feb 19) at around 5pm, pretending to be customers. The owner of the shop, Saif Ramay, explained further to the Laudium Sun what transpired, “Two Indian guys came to my shop late in the afternoon at around 5 pm, pretending to want to buy a packet of cigarettes. However, since they didn’t find their preferred brand, they didn’t buy anything and left. Later on I noticed that from the few charity tins we have at the counter for customers to place their coins in as donations, one of the tins, that of Bilal Mosque, was missing. I immediately asked my worker if he saw anyone taking the tin and he said he did not. So I went to check the CCTV footage of the shop. That is when I recognised these two Indian guys, who live in the area and who came into the shop not long back, looking for a specific brand of cigarettes. The one guy in a black hoodie, as seen in the CCTV footage, waited for his friend to distract me at the till, while he quickly stole the charity tin from the counter and put it in his jacket pocket. It is really sad that people have become so greedy that they even steal donations made for religious purposes. It’s very sad to see, especially when young people with so much ahead of them feel the need to steal, just to feed their bad habits. The society we are living in now is really worrisome. I hope the police will take appropriate action against these criminals.”
A customer who was in the shop at the time of the theft, Zunaid Habib told the Laudium Sun, “The theft that took place at Doyan’s shop was very disheartening. Nowadays, these thieves are not even leaving charity tins alone.
What kind of society are we living in when money for charity is being stolen. This is really bad, and as a society, we must have CCTV footage shows the two Indian guys who were allegedly involved in the theft of the charity collection tin of Bilal Mosque. strict rules for anyone who commits such disrespectful acts. It’s a huge disrespect to our religion, and as a Muslim, I’m really upset because it’s a dishonour to my faith. The two local Indian men who committed this crime should be punished so that no one ever dares to commit such an offense again.”
Ada Str resident, Suleiman Akoob, told the Laudium Sun, “The crime situation in our area in particular, is really bad. I heard about the theft of the collection tin for donations to a Mosque. It’s really disturbing. Stealing anything is wrong, but stealing this charity tin is truly disrespectful. How can anyone commit such a crime, I felt really bad about it, and I hope the police will catch these thieves soon.”
*Saif later told the Laudium Sun, “The father of the two Indian men came to the shop to apologize and returned the charity tin along with R500 in cash. But what has been done cannot be undone.”