Keychain leads to hijacker’s arrest
A driver and his passengers were robbed in the early hours and his car was stolen, but the car's key chain led to the arrest of a 25-year-old man.
A 25-year-old man from Swaneville has been arrested following a car hijacking in Riverside.
A statement from Captain Solomon Sibiya from the Kagiso police said the man was arrested on October 16 at 06:50 in Riverside only a few kilometres from Swaneville.
He added that the victim, who is a driver, told police at about 4:25 on October 15 that he was transporting and dropping off his clients at different places around Kagiso. As one of his clients was about to exit the vehicle, the victim noticed three men approaching them.
One of the men pointed a firearm at him and the other two searched the female passengers and the driver. They took the victim’s cellphone, driver’s licence and R100 cash before firing one shot and speeding away in the victim’s vehicle.
“Police received a complaint of a car hijacking and swiftly responded to it,” said Sibiya.
When police arrived on the scene the victim told them what happened and they followed up on the information. this led them to Swaneville where the hijacked vehicle was found abandoned.
“As police were busy conducting preliminary investigations on the abandoned vehicle, the victim spotted one of the suspects holding his hijacked vehicle’s key holder.”
The victim immediately relayed this to the police and the 25-year-old man was arrested.
“The victim’s car key holder was indeed found in the suspect’s possession. The suspect was later charged with hijacking and will appear briefly before the Kagiso Magistrate’s Court.”
