Technology at forefront in courier battle

A DRASTIC increase in online shopping during the lockdown has opened the door for criminals to target courier vehicles transporting goods.

While big cities such as Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town have seen the biggest spike in hijackings of courier vehicles, security experts say courier vehicles throughout the country are being targeted.

This has not only resulted in significant financial loss for the sector, but also loss of life.

Earlier this year, two courier vehicles were hit hours apart in Kempton Park, with one of the vehicles carrying electronic goods, including cellphones.

Recently, an unknown number of suspects in a white Ford Ranger and white Ford Focus attacked an escort vehicle which was accompanying a courier van carrying electronic goods in Fountain Circle, Pretoria.

The suspects used high calibre firearms and fired multiple shots. No injuries were sustained.

In Mondeor and the Johannesburg South areas, there were also at least two incidents within one week where delivery vans were robbed.

Over the past year, security firm Fidelity Services Group has been working hard to find solutions.

The company teamed up with courier company, Skynet Worldwide Express, to provide an innovative security solution.

The duo have spent the past year developing an industry first, which will include live vehicle tracking and CCTV monitoring.

Wahl Bartmann, CEO of Fidelity Services group, said the huge spike in courier vehicle hijackings can be attributed to an increase in online shopping.

“According to a recent Nielsen syndicated study on the impact of Covid-19 on consumer behaviour, 37% of South Africans are saying they are shopping more online. Although we can only report on crime that occurs specifically in the Fidelity footprint, amongst our customers, and are therefore not in a position to comment on general crime statistics, we can confirm that we have seen a drastic increase in the number of courier vans being targeted,” he said.

Bartmann said, with so many people out of work and the economy being subdued, criminals were after the goods as they were aware that more South Africans were ordering goods online.

He said while courier vehicles have always been targeted, the spike in incidents had become a trend over the past 14 months.

“Courier companies and truck deliveries have unfortunately become an easy target for criminals as the drivers are often unarmed or untrained to deal with crime of this nature.”

Experts are concerned about the impact these robberies will have on the country's already ailing economy, as the local e-commerce industry’s, estimated R62 billion in revenue this year alone, was under threat.

Bartmann is hoping their partnership with Skynet Worldwide would provide solutions to ensure the protection of courier vehicles.

One of their solutions is license plate recognition.

“The cameras will pick up any vehicles entering the area that are on the SAPS database. This means that suspicious vehicles and the suspects inside these vehicles can be stopped before crimes are committed.

“The cameras are monitored by agents and any flagged vehicles are reported immediately and checked against the SAPS database. We are in close communication with the SAPS and work together to ensure officers respond immediately.

“Advanced analytics will identify vehicles of interest based on irregular behaviour. This also allows us to track trends and possibly preempt criminal activities. Criminals are becoming more and more sophisticated and so we need to be ahead of them every step of the way.

“Technology is what will make our efforts more palpable. We have also reinforced our response teams on the ground with support from highly trained Specialised Intervention Units who rely on advanced intel from informants and our intelligence units.

“The on-the-ground support is also supplemented with air support from helicopters.”

Bartmann said while companies already use private security to secure their loads, the modus operandi of the attacks had changed since lockdown and courier vans have become a target for sporadic violent attacks which require a more specialised solution.

“We believe that like the spike in CIT (cash-in-transit) robberies, these attacks on couriers are often orchestrated by internal collusion with external well-trained and armed syndicates.

“Courier vans have become a target for sporadic violent attacks, which require a more specialised solution.

“Big cities such as Johannesburg are the most targeted because of the high demand for delivered goods.”

Tommy Erasmus, CEO of Skynet Worldwide Express, said finding a solution was important as hijackings of courier vehicles in the country have become uncontrollable.

“The information at hand indicates that there are between 25 and 35 courier and transport vehicle hijackings per day. Some of the courier companies carry cell phones and other high-value shipments with their other clients freight, using the same network infrastructure.

“This makes these vehicles targets for the syndicates. These syndicates are well organised with very good intelligence, equipment, fire power and even military grade signal jammers. The arrest and prosecution ratio is also very poor,” he said.

Criminals are eyeing technology, with cellphones in specific in high demand, said Erasmus.

“Skynet does carry e-commerce shipments but we haven’t seen i ncidents of our vehicles being targeted for these e-commerce shipments.”

Erasmus said it was crucial that the security industry works together to curb this crime trend.

“We have to work together as an industry and we need the SAPS to use the Fidelity Specialised Unit and intelligence within SAPS and within the security industry to fight this scourge. These criminals have to be arrested and prosecuted.”

Erasmus said the partnership between Skynet and Fidelity Services Group had been in the making for past two years.

Their priority was ensuring that driver safety was taken into consideration.

“We started working on a solution 24 months ago and wanted to make sure that the safety of the drivers is taken into consideration. Some of the industry players provide an armed escort solution that in some cases doesn’t provide the drivers with enough protection, which is why there are so many injuries and fatalities.