The Delitraiteur last May, the Proximus store on the Chaussée de Charleroi twice last week and Carrefour Express this Tuesday, June 25, a total of four robberies in two months, including three in one week, were carried out in Waterloo. Unusually, the phone store was robbed twice in the space of 24 hours, by two different groups of thugs. In both cases, they were arrested by the police.
But there is no reason to worry the Waterloo shopkeepers too much. At the Carrefour Express, Chaussée de Bruxelles, work resumed immediately after the robbery on Tuesday evening.Everyone reacted well and customers returned normally.” they explain to us at the entrance to the store. But for this employee of the brand, even if he was not present, the concern is for the eight and ten year old children present during the robbery, hoping that they were not too marked by facts.
Right next door, Farid wonders about all these robberies but for his part, he doesn’t think that his furniture business could one day be targeted.There is no money here, as these are large amounts, everything is done by transfer or Bancontact… Unless they want to steal a sofa or a table” he says. And for him, supermarkets are the most to be pitied.”I see them more robbing the intersection or Picard than a lighting store.”
Still nearby, in this organic store, Malika is a little more worried: “It’s scary there. There were still two or three robberies in Waterloo.” she tells us as we inform her that the Carrefour was robbed two days before. For his brand, the only time the store was robbed was on a public holiday, while the store was closed. And rather than leaving with the boxes or products, the thieves took the safe directly. Probably with a meager booty. “We don’t have a lot of cash here. Most of our customers pay by card. And it’s an organic business. We don’t have any high-value items.”
Same story with Picard, just opposite. “We don’t have much money on site and as soon as the cash exceeds 250 euros, we put everything in the safe. It’s a smart safe, we can’t open it and we don’t even know the amount inside. When it exceeds a certain percentage, it informs the money transport company which comes to collect the contents and leaves.” explains Jordan, manager of the brand. But even with this system, the group, of 12 stores in Belgium, has only experienced one theft… and the perpetrator was a former Picard employee, quickly found. Finally, there is also the security policy where everyone is trained for this scenario.The problem for me would be more for the staff than for the money”.
Second robbery in two days in the same telephone store in Waterloo
Upsurge in summer
The number of robberies for this year 2024 currently stands at four in Waterloo in 2 months. One might think that this is a lot, but in light of the statistics, cases of armed robbery are nevertheless slightly decreasing in the Lion commune. 10 in 2019, 4 and 3 in 2020 and 2021 (covid years), 7 for 2022 and 4 in 2023. Across the province, 63 robberies took place in 2023.
For the commander of the Waterloo police zone, Michel Vandewalle, we should not believe in an increase in robberies but rather a seasonal phenomenon. ““As the holidays approach, some people have empty pockets and think about making some easy money. It’s like thefts from homes, which increase in winter, a more favorable period.” It is also difficult to assess whether or not there has been an increase in robberies because the years of the pandemic have distorted the statistics, explains the head of the unit.
Robbery of the Waterloo Delitraiteur, staff testify: “we must not play the hero”
So as summer approaches, the police are more vigilant and this is all the more true after a robbery. Bad luck, then, for the thugs who came the day after the Proximus robbery. “They didn’t have good readings” quips the commander, recalling that the facts of the day before had circulated in the press. But more seriously: “When we have one, we do a checkpoint, the information circulates among the teams and we pay more attention to certain businesses.” However, the police do not have an eye and control everywhere and at all times, recalls Michel Vandewalle.
