Warrant Officer Daniel Mavimbela, head of communications for Diepsloot police and standby communications officer for the Honeydew cluster, said a 41-year-old man was arrested in Florida for allegedly taking part in the hijacking of a truck that was transporting TV sets from KwaZulu-Natal to Johannesburg.
Mavimbela said the alleged hijacking happened in Heidelberg shortly after midnight on 5 January. According to Mavimbela, the driver of the truck was driving on the N3 highway when he was accosted by two armed men. The suspects pointed firearms at the truck driver and subsequently took control of the truck.
Hours after the hijacking, police were tipped off about the location of the truck. They found the truck in a former business premises in Roodepoort. Nine suspects were busy offloading the TV’s from the hijacked truck. When police approached them they fled the scene on foot. Another suspect fled the scene in a minibus, however police managed to chase him down and arrest him in Florida.
The police recovered 280 TV’s, a jamming device and three vehicles from the former business premises in Roodepoort.
Mavimbela said the arrested suspect will be charged with hijacking and possession of stolen property and will appear in the Roodepoort Magistrates’ Court soon. A manhunt has been launched for the nine other suspects.
