FF+ suspects foul play as firearm licence courier hijacked in Soweto

Foul play is being suspected after a courier vehicle carrying a large consignment of firearm licences was hijacked in Dobsonville, Soweto and the licences stolen this week.

Questions have been asked how a vehicle that was supposed to transport the licences to Johannesburg ended up travelling to Dobsonville, instead of going straight to the provincial offices of the Gauteng government in the city where it was supposed to deliver the licences.

The licences were being transported from the Government printing works in Pretoria on Wednesday and the vehicles allegedly went past the city into Soweto, which raised suspicions about whether the hijacking was not an inside job or a planned crime.

The licences and other goods that were stolen from the hijacked vehicle were still missing. However, no details were available as to how the hijacking happened.

Gauteng provincial police spokesperson, Captain Kay Makhubela, said he had not heard anything about the incident.

National SAPS spokesperson Brigadier Vish Naidoo confirmed that such an incident occurred. He said the vehicle was a private courier truck carrying a lot of items including firearm licences. “The licences did not reach their destination but we are not sure if those licences were among the items that were taken,” Naidoo said.

He said the matter was still being investigated, but played down reports by concerned gun owners that it was a big issue.

Freedom Front Plus leader Dr Pieter Groenewald raised the matter in parliament, saying his party was concerned about the possibility that the licences could have fallen in the wrong hands.

“Thousands of licences were stolen and are now in the hands of criminals. This is a great cause for concern particularly for firearm dealers, seeing that persons with a stolen firearm licence will be able to buy ammunition and dealers must be on the lookout for this,” Groenewald said.

On hearing about the hijacking that took place on Wednesday, the FF+ immediately questioned national police commissioner General Khehla Sitole during a police portfolio committee meeting in parliament, who initially was unaware of the incident. Sitole later confirmed that indeed the vehicle had been hijacked and the licences stolen.

The Commissioner undertook to have the investigation into the matter moved to the national level as a high priority.

“Only after he had made some enquiries to his generals, he was able to confirm to the committee that the FF Plus’s information was correct. The priority of the case, which was being investigated on provincial level, has now been moved up to national level….This incident, however, shows that the police, responsible for issuing the licences, are not even able to implement proper precautionary measures to keep the licences safe,” Groenewald said.

The FF+ leader question why the licences were transported via Dobsonville and not straight to the provincial government offices.

“To the FF Plus’s mind, it looks like a crime was committed after confidential information was leaked and so the party insisted that the case must be investigated urgently so that the relevant licences can be re-issued to prevent further crimes,” he said.

– ericn@citizen.co.za

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