The Alex Magistrates’ Court recently postponed a case of robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery and hijacking involving 11 men to 24 July.
The court heard that the 11 were arrested for their alleged involvement in hijacking and off-loading a truck and two trailers carrying commercial goods worth R830 000. This after two of them allegedly stopped the truck driver at gunpoint in Isando at midday on 16 June while it was en route to Durban.
It is claimed the accused took over the truck and while driving, attempted to but failed, to jam its tracking system. Also, the truck is said to have been equipped with hidden cameras which allegedly captured the images of the hijackers. Some of the suspects were dropped off in Midrand, while the driver proceeded in the truck to rent a storage place in Midrand.
Police were alerted by the tracker and when they got to the site, they found the truck being unloaded by 11 men, with some of the goods being loaded into another truck. The men attempted to flee when they saw the police, but were all arrested. All the goods and the truck were recovered.
The court granted eight of the men bail of between R1 000 and R5 000, while the other three were remanded in custody as their documents were not up to date. The postponement will enable further investigations by a specialised truck hijacking team from the provincial police department.
