Burglars in the Cape Town area and the Atlantic seaboard are disregarding alarm systems and are kicking down doors to get to the goods.
At least three such cases have been reported in Camps Bay and one in the city centre in a month.
On Tuesday police spokesperson Randall Stoffels said robbers had gained entry into a Higgovale home last month by breaking through the front door.
The home owner, who asked not to be named as the suspects were yet to be arrested, said they had broken through four gates and the front door, setting off the alarm. "But they carried on. They found the safe in a bedroom behind a mirror and managed to get it down the stairs. It's very big and heavy so they must've had a trolley waiting outside to help them get it out. They seemed very organised," she said.
The resident said diamonds and other personal belongings amounting to more than R800 000 had been stolen and the damage the suspects had caused to her house ran to "tens of thousands of rands".
She said she had heard about other similar incidents occurring in the area where suspects had broken through the front doors of houses.
Meanwhile, in Camps Bay, the community policing forum's chairperson, Bernard Schafer, said in the past few weeks three burglaries had been reported.
"We've had a couple of incidents recently where the modus operandi is that the criminals go straight through the front doors. They kick them in," he said.
Schafer said in the three cases the suspects either tried to steal or had stolen TVs.
But Stoffels said although other home burglaries had been reported in the city centre recently, no "trends" had yet been picked up. It was also too early to say whether "an organised group" was behind the burglaries.
Anyone with information about the incidents may contact CrimeStop anonymously on 08600 10111 and police may offer a reward.
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