Crime syndicates target courier vans as more people shop online
A DRASTIC increase in online shopping during the lockdown has opened the door for criminals to target courier vehicles.
While big cities such as Durban, Johannesburg and Cape Town have seen the biggest spike in hijackings of courier vehicles, security experts say courier vehicles throughout the country are being targeted.
Over the past year, security firm Fidelity Services Group and courier company SkyNet Worldwide Express, have joined forces to find a security solution.
Wahl Bartmann, chief executive of Fidelity Services, said the huge spike in courier vehicle hijackings could be attributed to an increase in online shopping.
“According to a recent Nielsen syndicated study on the impact of Covid19 on consumer behaviour, 37% of South Africans say they are shopping more online,” he said.
Fidelity had seen a drastic increase in the number of courier vans being targeted over the past 14 months, he said.
“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. South Africa’s e-commerce industry’s estimated revenue for this year alone was R65 billion.
One solution explored by the two companies 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 pre-empt criminal activities.
“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.”
Tommy Erasmus, chief executive of SkyNet Worldwide Express, said finding a solution was important because the situation was out of control.
“The information at hand indicates that there are between 25 and 35 courier and transport vehicle hijackings per day. Some courier companies carry cellphones and other high-value shipments.
“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 particular in high demand, said Erasmus.
Erasmus said it was crucial that the security industry worked together to curb this crime trend.
“We have to work together as an industry and we need the SAPS. 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.
“We 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.”