Possible breakthrough: officers pounce on suspect in spate of delivery bike hijackings
In one of the latest hijackings, a rider was fatally shot during a confrontation in Comet.
Police in Boksburg believe they made a breakthrough in investigations into the spate of delivery bike hijackings after they found a Mozambican national in possession of four delivery motorcycles.
This comes as a result of an operation in response to a bike theft that happened last night (November 19) in the Boksburg North area and a deadly bike hijacking at the corner of Pretoria and Main Reef roads.
A rider was fatally shot during a confrontation on Thursday night.
Information gathered on the possible whereabouts of the stolen bikes led local security company response teams and the police, including EMPD officers, to a property in Angelo informal settlement where one bike was positively confirmed as sought by police in the case reported at Boksburg North last night.
The other three bikes are believed to have either been hijacked or stolen in previously reported cases.
The team also recovered the carrier cases for the bikes from the scene.
They arrested one suspect, who was taken to the Boksburg police station. The motorcycles were taken to the SAPS’ specialised unit for further investigation.
The suspect is expected to make his first appearance in the Boksburg Magistrate’s Court soon on charges of possession of a stolen motorcycle and possession of suspected either hijacked or stolen bikes.
The Boksburg Advertiser recently reported that police have noted hijackers have a new target in Boksburg, saying detectives were probing a possible motorbike hijacking syndicate following a spike in the number of hijackings of delivery motorcycles, where the riders were also robbed of their personal belongings, including cellphones and wallets.
According to the Boksburg SAPS spokesperson, Sergeant Ntsako Ledwaba, further investigations are underway as police have reason to believe that the suspect could be behind the series of delivery motorcycle hijackings in Boksburg and surrounding towns.
Police had previously noted that the targeted delivery drivers include Checkers Sixty60 and Mr D motorcycles and the hotspots are Plantation, Farrar Park and Freeway Park.
Following the multiple hijacking of delivery motorcycles cases reported at the local police stations, the Shoprite Group said it works closely with law enforcement agencies to combat the attacks on its operators and their teams are assisting police to catch the perpetrators.
Some of the delivery motorcyclists told this publication they, for their safety, have opted to stop doing deliveries at night.
One of the Boksburg Mr D delivery motorcyclists, who asked not to be identified, told the Boksburg Advertiser he was badly beaten up by a gang of four criminals who hijacked his Big Boy motorcycle.
They took his cellphone as he was delivering food in Primrose at about 19:30 last month.
Also Read: WATCH: Boksburg’s increasing crime trends, hijacking attract ‘Operation Shanela’
