The police should reprioritise the prevention of robberies for cash following the 15.1% increase in cash-in-transit heists and ATM bombings, said Richard Phillips, joint CEO of Cash Connect Management Solutions.<\/p>\n
“Organised crime is becoming\u2026 confident and is refocusing on the big prize – armoured trucks responsible for moving cash,” he said.<\/p>\n
After a steady decline from 467 cash-in-transit heists in 2006\/7 to 119 in 2014\/15, this type of crime is enjoying resurgence. For the period 2015\/16, there was a sudden spike to 137 cash in transit robberies.<\/p>\n
Phillips warned that gangs seem able to arm themselves with effective weaponry, even plastic explosives if necessary, and their hits show careful planning.<\/p>\n
Cash-in-transit heists used to be treated as a priority crime, with police intelligence identifying gangs of organised criminals and working to remove them from society.<\/p>\n
“But that has been allowed to slip,” said Phillips.<\/p>\n
Trends show that any business that holds cash is at risk, especially retailers.<\/p>\n
“They have clearly found a weakness in retail and wholesale where cash is a dominant feature, and they are playing havoc. It is so easy for these guys,” Phillips added.<\/p>\n
Companies that still manually count their cash and take it to the bank in a plastic bag give him the shivers, Phillips said.<\/p>\n
Not just big business<\/strong><\/p>\n According to the crime statistics, bank robberies were down 64% with only six in 2015\/16.<\/p>\n The biggest increases in cash-in-transit heists were in the Eastern Cape, where they went up by 90% from 10 to 19, and the Western Cape where they are up 60% from 15 to 24.<\/p>\n Cash-in-transit heists in Gauteng were down 17.9% with 32 incidents for the latest period compared with 39 for 2014\/15.<\/p>\n Of the six reported bank robberies this year two were in Gauteng, one in Mpumalanga and three in the North West.<\/p>\n According to a presentation by police Minister Nathi Nhleko, in a study of 4 128 business robbery cases reported from September to November 2015, cash was taken in 83% of the cases.<\/p>\n But it was not just big business that was targeted.<\/p>\n According to this analysis, 22.8% were spaza or tuck shops, 12.2% were supermarkets, 7.4% were general dealers, butcheries and caf\u00e9s, 7.1% were bars, and 7% were petrol station shops, 6.7% were farm stalls and 5.6% were clothing stores.<\/p>\n “With the current cash in circulation figure of R130bn as recorded by the SA Reserve Bank, crime against businesses with high cash turnover is without a doubt still a serious problem.<\/p>\n “Unless something drastic happens the impact it has on our economy seems like a long-term reality,” said Phillips.<\/p>\n News24<\/a><\/p>\n South Africa crime stats 2016: everything you need to know<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Crime stats to be released quarterly<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n South Africa has the highest rate of economic crime in the world<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\nMore on crime in SA<\/h3>\n