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Jewellers call for coordinated clampdown after spate of 'brazen' robberies

Thieves feeding a lucrative local and global stolen jewellery market are making a killing as they increase their attacks on shops selling top handcrafted international watches and jewellery.

Over 30 jewellery stores have been robbed since January‚ with Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal bearing the brunt of the assaults. Last week thousands of rands worth of jewellery and watches were stolen in an attack at the Boutique Haute Horlogerie Jewellery store in Hyde Park Mall in Johannesburg.

While the Jewellery Council of SA has criticised government for its lack of commitment to fight these crimes and for the lack of successful prosecutions of jewellery thieves‚ police say they are making headway against these criminals.

Police spokesperson‚ Major-General Sally de Beer‚ said in the past two weeks three suspected jewellery robbery kingpins and 10 thieves had been arrested in connection with robberies at jewellery stores in Johannesburg.

She dismissed accusations from the Council that police were playing lip-service to the jewellery industry.

De Beer said trio crimes‚ which include business and house robberies and hijackings‚ had been identified as an on-going concern.

“Last month the police held a strategic planning meeting where trio crimes were specifically discussed and an action plan‚ targeting certain policing clusters‚ developed.”

De Beer said the national detectives division was coordinating the investigations into these specific robberies.

Jewellery manufacturer and chairman of the Jewellery Council of SA‚ Chris van Rensburg‚ however‚ said that attacks on jewellery stores‚ which were rapidly increasing‚ were symptomatic of a far bigger crime problem.

He said since the drop in cash heists‚ criminals had shifted their attention to jewellery stores.

“They have become incredibly brazen because of a lack of prosecutions and lack of fear of prosecutions. The statistics in terms of arrests and convictions speak for themselves.”

He said since November there had been a noticeable increase in jewellery store attacks specifically in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng

“These attacks feed a lucrative local and international secondary market with South Africa experiencing part of growing global problem.

“The theft of top handcraft watches‚ where some sell for R1-million‚ is an easy way of peddling money. Watches‚ and jewellery‚ are targeted because of their saleability and portability.”

Van Rensburg said: “As jewellery stores adapt their security so the criminals adapt their tactics. Whatever you throw at them they throw it straight back at you in terms of brazenness.”

He said from how the attacks were committed it was clear they were not just opportunistic.

He said the jewellery industry was under huge threat‚ with shopowners closing down‚ partly because of crime.

“Sales are dropping significantly with people choosing other commodities‚ such as Louis Vuitton handbags‚ over a R60‚000 ring from a risk point of view. People in the industry are worried especially as insurance companies threaten to withdraw insurance because of the high risk of attack.

“The industry provides a substantial amount to the GDP and government says the industry is strategic‚ yet there’s little evidence of anything being done by government to stop these attacks.”

He said no one seemed to “walk the talk” as far as the judiciary and policing was concerned.

“There is nothing on record in terms of prosecution of jewellery thieves‚ that we know of‚ and as long as there is a lack of cohesion between policing and the judiciary these crimes wont stop.”

Lorna Lloyd‚ Jewellery Council of SA CEO‚ said they were working closely with the Consumer Goods Council of SA‚ which was working closely with the police to establish provincial task teams in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng‚ which had experienced a recent spate of smash-and-grab jewellery store robberies.

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