Chronicle Editor
Bulawayo and Harare are again witnessing an upsurge in armed robberies targeting banks and other financial institutions.
On Tuesday five armed robbers pounced on CBZ Bank’s Fife Street branch in Bulawayo and got away with US$70 000 in broad daylight. The branch services mostly clients receiving foreign currency from international financial agents.
Last month four robbers intercepted a cash-in-transit Safeguard vehicle outside a money transfer agent in the city and got away with US$100 000 and R500 000.
In the same month another gang of armed robbers raided a Mukuru branch along 13th Avenue and got away with undisclosed cash. A number of similar robberies have been reported in Harare.
Armed robbers continue to change their modus operandi and targets hence the need for police to also change their pre-emptive tactics. At first the robbers were targeting individuals or companies keeping large sums of money at either home or business premises.
When they realised that most people who used to keep money at home or business premises now appreciate that doing so exposes them to robbers, the targets changed to cash-in-transit vehicles and banks.
The robbers are now targeting banks and money transfer agents and they walk in as genuine clients and later pounce. The banks and money transfer agents have to work on their security systems which are failing to detect armed robbers.
There is an urgent need to install devices which detect guns at the entrance to protect banks and their clients. During the Tuesday robbery at CBZ Bank, the five robbers got into the bank as genuine customers seeking services and later robbed the bank.
What this confirms is that the bank does not have a device to detect guns hence the robbers were able to walk into the bank with their guns.
Banks cannot continue to be victims of armed robberies and as already alluded to, there is a need to improve security and surveillance systems. We have said before that criminals live in communities and therefore the onus is on members of the public to assist police to smoke them out by reporting them.
Criminals should not be allowed a free rein in our cities and towns. We want at this juncture to implore each and every citizen to join hands with the police in fighting crime and to be vigilant all the time. Let us make our communities no-go areas for robbers and other criminals.
Online Reporter