Police warn: Don’t hitch-hike, especially not alone, on the R28/ N12
Police issue warning to community to avoid hitch-hiking along the N12 and R28
The Bekkersdal Police have issued a warning to the public not to hitch-hike along the N12 and R28, to avoid being robbed.
“We would like to warn the community of the Bekkersdal policing precinct about the robberies that are occurring along and near the N12 and R28. In two separate incidents, the victims (hitch-hikers) were robbed of their personal belongings including cellular phones by the people who picked them up (up to three occupants per vehicle),” said Sergeant Linkie Lefakane, Bekkersdal Police’s spokesperson.
Also read: Hitchhiker attacked and tied up
Lefakane continued, saying, “The victims will ask for a lift to a particular place. The driver will apparently agree to give them a lift, but after some time, he will allegedly deviate from the normal route to that place. When the victim questions the route, one of the passengers will pull out a firearm and demand his/ her money and other belongings.”
Police say the perpetrator is slender, dark and in his early 30s.
“Lieutenant Colonel Albertus van Rooyen, the acting station commander, urges the members of the community to refrain from hitch-hiking, especially on their own. It is not safe and creates opportunities for criminal behaviours.”
The Herald has reported about many crimes that have occurred on the N12 and R28 on numerous occasions since 2016.
Also read: Mother, daughter targeted while hitchhiking
On a Friday night in April last year, a couple was waiting for their transport on the side of the N12 when they were approached by two men. The men walked past them and then asked whether they were going to Johannesburg. When they didn’t respond, one of the men pulled out a gun and cocked it. The other man then held one of the victims up with a knife. Lefakane said the victims were robbed of their cellphones, laptops, tablets, money and ID books. One of the suspects was tall and slender, the other short, and wearing a balaclava.
In the second incident, which occurred on a Friday in August 2016, a mother and father were murdered within earshot of their son at the N12/ R28 intersection. The blood-spattered boy was allegedly taken to the Westonaria Police station by a motorist.
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