Chronicle Editor
There have been four armed robberies in Harare in little over a fortnight, with one of them leading to the murder of the victim and attempted murder of a neighbour who had run to help.In all four cases the gang responsible seemed to know their victims were carrying cash or had large sums of cash in a safe, far more cash in fact than just about everybody usually carries on their person or in their wallet or handbag.
This suggests that each robbery was carefully planned and that the robbers had detailed inside information. As these were the only reported armed robberies, it is clear that the gang or gangs are using hard intelligence rather than just raiding houses and cars on the off chance.
We have been through a sudden spate in robberies before, and each time the police have managed to track down the one or two gangs responsible and bring them to justice.
No doubt the CID will do this again this time. It is in fact this high rate of success by the police in solving violent crime that keeps the rate of such crime so low in Harare.
But until the latest gang or gangs is tracked down and arrested, the risk of moving around with large sums in cash or keeping large sums in a shop or house are far higher than usual. This is why the police are urging people not to keep large sums at their place of business or their homes.
Most big businesses taking in large sums in cash ensure that they implement special precautions.
Simple ones are having safes that allow bundles of cash to be dropped in but with the keys held elsewhere so robbers cannot open the doors, using professional security companies with licensed armed guards to move cash, and these days having CCTV cameras transmitting data to off-site control rooms.
But many others rely on anonymity. They drive around in an ordinary car and live in an ordinary house in their neighbourhood and act no differently from their cashless neighbours.
Unfortunately, there are greedy and disgruntled employees or ex-employees who sell this information and criminals who stake out a business and watch the owner coming out each day with a bag and draw conclusions.
Yet those involved in legitimate business need not take these risks. Even in these days of banknote shortages, most banks will give priority to net depositors of cash when it comes to cash allocations and even import payments; this is quite fair since the bank does not have to run down its foreign accounts to import bank notes. And there are ways of charging external debit cards for those wishing to travel.
There are also facilities for storing valuables and cash, so long as these are acquired legitimately in legal business transactions, and there are several companies who specialise in moving cash and valuables safely. The fees for all these services are a very small percentage of the sums of money that have been seized in recent armed robberies. Most people buy some insurance to guard against other losses and these fees to those who move, secure or bank cash can just be regarded as insurance against robberies.
Even when, as is usual, the police track down the robbers the victim does not get everything back. Robbers tend to squander their takings or buy items that on resale realise only a fraction of the stolen money used to buy them. So the victim remains a victim.
No one involved in legitimate business should take risks. It simply is not worth it.
Online Reporter