Three people were caught in the act of thieving after they tried to use an e-hailing vehicle to flee the scene near Table Mountain.

Mayco member for safety and security JP Smith saind in a Facebook post saying law enforcement officers caught the women on Sunday 4 October.

Writing on social media yesterday, October 6, Smith said law enforcement officers were on patrol around Table Mountain when a car alarm went off.

Two women were seen hurrying away from the vehicle. Officers followed them to another car, which turned out to be an e-hailing cab, and stopped it.

The e-hailing driver told officers he had received a booking for the trip. A man was already inside the vehicle, along with items suspected to have been stolen.

A photo shared with the social media post showed one of the women wearing an “I love Cape Town” T-shirt.

Tampered locks

Officers checked the vehicle whose alarm had been triggered and found its locking mechanism had been tampered with. Further investigation showed that several other vehicles in the area had been targeted.

Smith said that the officers waited at the scene and hikers returning from the trails confirmed that items they had deliberately hidden inside their vehicles were missing. They identified the stolen property among the items confiscated from the three people, who were promptly arrested.

Smith urged visitors to stay alert, secure their vehicles and not leave valuables behind, even when they were out of sight, warning that crime patterns during the tourist season indicated that visitors to Cape Town were being targeted.

Crime patterns

“As Cape Town’s tourism season gains momentum, so too can the patterns of crime targeting visitors and popular tourism destinations,” he said. “Tourism is far more than visitors taking photographs and spending money in our city. It supports thousands of livelihoods across accommodation, restaurants, transport, retail, hospitality, tour operators and countless businesses that form part of the tourism economy.

“Protecting Cape Town’s reputation as a safe and welcoming destination is therefore not simply about protecting our visitors — it is about protecting the jobs and livelihoods that depend on tourism.”

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