Several Belhar residents have woken up to find their cars standing on bakstene, with their wheels missing.
According to resident Mishka Abrahams, 11 cars have been targeted in the last two weeks.
“I woke up and all my car wheels were stolen. The car was put on top of bricks by the skelms,” she says.
The mom of two has been living in Belhar for 16 years and says no one has a clue who the culprits are.
“There are petty crimes like any other area, the crimes include stealing of dustbins but this is the first type of crime where they take wheels,” she says.
“I am under the impression they are professionals because you do not hear anything. You just wake up and your car is on top of bricks.”
Mishka says getting a second-hand set of wheels for her Toyota Verso cost her R4000.
She says she could not afford new wiele and did not have insurance to replace them.
She is considering building a high wall to secure her car, which she now parks at her sister’s house 20 kilometres away.
Another resident, Lloyd Jacobs, says the diewe stole two wheels off his Honda Jazz: “They took mine on Tuesday night and I am waiting for my insurance so that I can replace them.
"This is making things hard for people who do not have yards or garages and are parking their cars outside.”
Another victim, Amos Kimishori, was so upset that he moved a day after the wheels were stolen off his red Hyundai Elantra: “I had to spend about R9000 to replace all the wheels. There is no yard where I was renting so I had to move out before replacing the wheels.”
Mishka says some residents have bought wheel guards to prevent skelms from stealing their wheels.
The victims say they have all reported the cases to the police.
However, police spokesman Colonel André Traut says there is no indication that it is a syndicate.