The wheels of crime

Motorcycles are increasingly being used as the getaway wheels of choice by violent criminals around the world; and South Africa has not escaped the trend.

Several mall robberies committed by helmeted bikers have made headlines in South Africa over the past five years.

The Brooklyn Mall robbery in 2008, when a gang of heavily armed robbers on superbikes made off with watches and jewellery worth R2-million was one of Pretoria's most daring robberies.

Seven men wearing motorbike helmets and carrying an assault rifle and hammers, smashed their way into the Greig and Meinke store before making off with jewels.

"The robbers then put their loot into bags and fled from the centre on their motorbikes," police said, adding that the bikes were seen travelling at "high speed" on the N1 towards Johannesburg.

On that same day in November, another gang robbed RSA Diamonds at Woodlands Boulevard in Garsfontein, holding up staff before escaping with cellphones, jewellery and personal belongings.

It is estimated that the gang - this one not on bikes but in an old Toyota Cressida - made off with goods worth about R1-million.

Both Pretoria attacks are believed to have collectively netted the gangs nearly R3-million in jewellery.

In 2008, according to the Pretoria News, more than 30 jewellers in Gauteng were robbed at, among others, Fourways Mall, Sandton City, East Rand Mall and Eastgate. A number of attacks also occurred in Brooklyn and Garsfontein.

One of 2008's biggest jewellery robberies took place in September at the Nelson Mandela Square in Sandton, where an estimated R4-million in jewellery was stolen.

In August 2009, armed with pistols and dressed in biker gear and helmets, six men staged a daylight jewellery robbery at the Fourways Mall on a Sunday - it was the sixth such attack in Gauteng in that week.

Shoppers were left shaken after two of the six Fourways Mall robbers kicked and smashed their way through the glass doors at Browns diamond store.

Shots were fired in and outside the shop. The gang had earlier tried to break into the Arthur Kaplan jewellery store but failed to smash its bullet-proof windows.

It was reported at the time that the Browns' owner, who did not speak to the media about the robbery, hid in his office after pressing a panic button. Talk about putting personal safety first?

The stakes are much higher in the United Kingdom. In November 2012, six robbers armed with axes and bats rode motorbikes into an indoor shopping centre in north London and raided a jewellery store, making off with goods worth more than R25-million.

The bikes were found abandoned near a golf course. Witnesses said the robbers appeared to have targeted Cartier and Rolex watches in the shop, along with other jewellery. The suspects were dressed in dark clothing and wore crash helmets with the visors down.

The links between bikers and crime in South Africa is not a new phenomenon. In 2002, the notorious Macs motorcycle gang embarked on a "reign of terror" in Pretoria.

In a highly-publicised incident at a Sunnyside restaurant, a woman named Amanda Bronkhorst had her front teeth knocked out when she tried to stop a fight between gang members and diners.

Although she was able to identify her attackers, there were no arrests.

It was said at the time that the Macs gang, said to be operating for more than a decade, had gone underground.

"While they were hitting me, they said 'you don't mess with the Macs'," Bronkhorst told a newspaper at the time.

She was apparently trying to break up a fight in the restaurant when one of the men allegedly slapped her. She stabbed him with a key.

On the way home, two men attacked her from behind and assaulted her.

All the men were apparently known members of the gang.

It was claimed at the time that the police were afraid of members of the notorious Macs gang. A specialised security firm had given police a dossier on the gang two years before the incident but they were never caught.

"The police are afraid of them. They normally bring about 25 officers to arrest one of the Macs members," the source said.

Biker crimes are not linked just to robberies. In a murder that gripped Pretoria in November 2011, a young woman was killed in a drive-by shooting by two masked motorcyclists moments after she dropped off her five-year-old son at a crèche.

In an apparent Mafia-style hit, the gunman - sitting on the back of the motorbike according to witnesses- opened fire on Chanelle Henning, who was estranged from Nico, her wealthy businessman husband.

None of 26-year-old Henning's belongings were stolen from her in the shooting. As police cordoned off the area, detectives were spotted taking away her BlackBerry, which they had found inside her handbag in her white Hyundai 120. Henning's family say she was followed by a motorcyclist on the Monday, from her home to Woodhill College, where she worked as a teaching assistant. She was shot moments after dropping off her son, Benjamin, at Morningstar Montessori crèche on the Tuesday.

Evidence gathered by police outside the school indicated that the killers had been waiting outside the crèche and launched their attack as she reversed her car from the school's parking lot.

Biker killings are not unique to South Africa. In Nigeria, in April 2012, about 20 gunmen on motorbikes attacked Christian worshippers while they were holding a service in a lecture theatre at the old site of the Bayero University in Kano.

An eyewitness, who narrowly escaped death at the hands of the killers, was quoted as saying the attackers arrived, intending to wipe out every member of the congregation.

He said that, after the attackers had thrown explosive devices inside the building, they opened fire on the church members who attempted to escape. Although a university spokesman said the actual casualties were seven, an eyewitness saw rescue workers removing 18 bodies.

In another July incident, motorcycle gunmen opened fire on the car of a Nigerian air force officer in Kano, killing the driver and an aide, while two other people were killed in a nearby neighbourhood, according to reports.

In a similar incident earlier in the day, two gunmen on a motorcycle shot dead two people outside their house in a nearby neighbourhood.

Boko Haram has carried out scores of bombings and shootings in the north of Africa's most populous nation.

In February, the man who shot Tunisian opposition figure Chokri Belaid fled on a motorcycle ridden by an accomplice, the Interior Ministry said.

In March 2012, a gunman shot dead three children and a rabbi at a Jewish school in Toulouse, days after killing three soldiers nearby, before escaping on a motorbike.

"He came on his motorbike, got off and shot a bullet in the air ... Then he got out another gun and started shooting at everyone; at the children. He chased us into the school," an eyewitness said.