Three men, whose alleged armed robbery and motor vehicle hijacking caused a logjam on the morning of 19 October last year, were remanded in custody by the Alex Magistrates’ Court pending further investigation.
Their alleged accomplice is at large after escaping in another car, hijacked during the incident as police closed in on them.
Four men in a Mercedes-Benz (suspected to have been stolen) pounced on a man who had arrived from Pretoria for a meeting in Chislehurston, Sandton. Their vehicle stopped next to the victim and two armed men robbed him of a bag and also searched him before getting back into the vehicle, which sped off.
The incident was immediately reported to the police who spotted the vehicle as it sped away on Catherine Drive and into Grayston Drive towards the M1 where it was slowed down by heavy traffic before it bumped into other vehicles, causing the logjam. A police chopper above aided the chase. The men abandoned the Mercedes-Benz and one of them hijacked and got away in a Toyota Yaris, while the police chased his three accomplices.
One was arrested at a nearby construction site, the second as he tried to hide in thick grass along the freeway, and the third as he continued running along the freeway.
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