Cops warn motorists of hijacking and vehicle theft spike
Police have warned motorists to be vigilant, as the area has been placed on red alert for vehicle theft and hijackings.
Katlehong SAPS Const Sivenkosi Mtwa said the situation is dire but under control. He added that vehicle crimes are also exacerbated by reckless motorists who are making it easy for car thieves to escape arrest.
Mutwa explained the majority of car hijacking victims don’t even know the registration numbers of their vehicles.
“People come to us to report a hijacking but a large percentage of them are often unable to give police the registration details of the vehicle.”
Mtwa said this causes unnecessary delays in finding the vehicle.
“By the time the person returns to us with the details, the stolen vehicle has already been stripped or even in another province or a neighbouring country,” explained Mtwa.
While police are doing their best to address such crimes, violent force is being used to hijack vehicles.
A video recently went viral after a 72-year-old pensioner was shot and killed outside the entrance of the boarding healthcare facility where he lived. Before taking the pensioner’s vehicle, the hijackers dragged his lifeless body out of the car before speeding away.
According to Lt-Col Masondo, the SAPS spokesperson for the Gauteng Provincial SAPS, one of the suspects in the Linden murder was arrested shortly after the incident in Eldorado Park, south of Johannesburg.
Masondo praised members of the public for their assistance, which led to the arrest.
In that same week, several other drivers had their vehicles forcefully taken at gunpoint. Three different drivers were reported hijacked in different parts of Ekurhuleni.
Each one of the drivers gave police harrowing details of their experiences of the torture and beatings as they were forced to give members of the hijackers their banking details.
The victims told police they were later dumped at different locations around Kathorus, including Zonkizizwe. The low-cost housing area southeast of Kathorus is notorious for criminal syndicates harbouring stolen vehicles, including hijacking cargo trucks travelling on the nearby N3.
Sources in the police and the independent security crime services told Kathorus MAIL their anti-crime operations are successful when a partnership is in place.
“In the event of a house alarm going off in a residential area, our security officers are always the first to arrive at the scene. Often, we are the ones who end up having to search the premises for an intruder, and should we find one, we then have to hand over the intruder to the local police who then formally charges the person,” explained a private security company personnel, who cannot be identified because of company policy.
He added their security mandate often extends to assisting the police when they pursue suspects when they try to evade police arrest.
“We’ve been involved in apprehending many hijackers with the police, and sometimes on our own. We then hand them over to the police,” explained a private security officer who refused to be named.
While the police have been commended for dealing with vehicle crime syndicates, the road ahead to win the war seems to be a long and hazardous exercise. But the police are confident they will win, warning motorists to also play their part.
