UMBILO SAPS is appealing to residents and motorists to be vigilant following a spate of hijackings in the area in the past week.
In the latest incident on Tuesday evening, Umbilo SAPS communications officer, Capt Pumzile Makaula said a woman was accosted by three suspects as she drove home. “The victim drove into her garage on Lena Ahrens Road at about
7pm. As she was locking the garage three men allegedly forced the door open. One suspect punched the woman in the face and pulled her hair. Armed with a firearm the suspects demanded her car keys and grabbed it and her
cellphone out of her hand before leaving in her vehicle,” she said.
In another incident on Saturday night, a man was sitting with a friend on Che Guevara Road when he was approached by three men on all sides of his vehicle. “The men were allegedly armed with firearms and ordered the man and his friend to get out of the vehicle. They took the keys jumped in the white VW Polo and sped off,” she explained.
A third incident, also on Che Guevara Road, took place on Monday evening around 6.45pm. A man was driving up the road and had just passed Hunt Road. “The man was about to turn into a parking lot when a suspect knocked on his window with a gun. “The suspect allegedly asked the driver to open the door and jumped into the passenger seat of the victim’s vehicle and two other suspects jumped into the back seat and told him to drive. A short distance away the suspects told the victim to get out the vehicle and drove off in his grey Audi A4,” she explained.
Makaula said a similar modus operandi was used in a carjacking later that night, around 8.15pm, also on Che Guevara Road. “A man parked his vehicle, a white Opel Corsa and was on his cellphone when he heard a knock on his window, when he looked up, a man was at his door allegedly pointing a firearm at him. The victim then noticed another man at his passenger side door,” she explained.
Makaula said motorists should be especially vigilant at night and appealed to the public do not talk on cellphones while getting in our out of your vehicle as you become distracted and a soft target.
