One week, five hijackings
Carletonville residents should be on the lookout for hijackers, as they have been on a spree lately.
According to the Carletonville police, the first such incident happened in Azurite Street on Tuesday, 7 March.
A resident had just pulled out of his yard with his brand-new VW Polo 7 to go to work at approximately 05:45. Suddenly, three Sotho-speaking men approached him and forced him to stop. One fired a shot, after which they pulled him from the Polo. They then jumped in the car, which is so new that it still had dealer’s number plates, and sped off.
Another hijacking happened at about 20:00 on the same day.
A taxi driver stopped at Slabbert Motors as he was planning to refuel when he noticed a group of men approaching him.
The driver jumped out, pulled the key from the ignition and tried to run away. The thugs fired two shots, however, and forced him to turn back.
They grabbed the keys and forced him back into the vehicle. The hijackers then drove with the driver and passenger and dropped them off near Elandsrand. They then sped off in the taxi.
Yet another hijacking happened at about 19:45 the same day.
The owner of a red 2006 model VW Polo had stopped in Harry Gwala Street in Khutsong Extension 5 to buy something. He had just stepped from the car when two men pointed firearms at him.
His girlfriend, still sitting in the car, quickly decided to jump out and run away.
The owner also did not resist the hijackers. The thugs then sped off in his car.
In another case, the owner of an Isuzu bakkie was driving on the P111 from Randfontein to Carletonville on the morning of Friday, 10 March. Two vehicles pushed him off the road near the Murray & Roberts training centre. The hijackers forced him to hand over his bakkie’s keys at gunpoint and sped off.
Another hijacking occurred in the early hours of Saturday, 11 March. The owner of a Hyundai Accent parked his car in front of Marcelo’s on Osmium Street in the Carletonville CBD.
When he walked out, four men walked up to him. They forced him to hand them the keys, after which they sped off in the car. The owner immediately reported the incident and the vehicle was later recovered in Wedela.
