Thulani Wana (30) appeared at the Delmas District Court on Friday, October 28 after his arrest on allegations of being found with a suspected hijacked freightliner truck in Delmas.
This arrest followed exactly one week after the Delmas Police made another successful arrest of an alleged hijacker on the R50 road close to Delmas. (Streeknuus, October 28.)
A driver was apparently driving a freightliner on the Argent road, transporting 36 tons of yellow maize destined for Durban on Wednesday, October 26. As the driver approached a stop sign, he was reportedly stopped by a white BMW with five occupants.
The driver was apparently held up at gunpoint and the five suspects ordered him off the truck and into the BMW.
One of the suspects then drove off with the truck.
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In the meantime, Cartrack noticed that the truck was stationary in Argent and at around 15:30 informed the Delmas Police of a possible hijacking.
However, when the police arrived in Argent, there was no sign of the freightliner. The police and the tracking company immediately began patrolling the area in search of the said freightliner.
The tracking company eventually located the truck in the RDP section in Botleng along the N12 at around 16:20 on the same day.
Upon noticing the police, the suspect who was driving the truck alighted from the freightliner and tried to flee from the scene.
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Shots were fired and the suspect was apprehended and later charged with truck hijacking. The kidnapped truck driver was found in Meyerton the following morning, October 27.
Wana was remanded in custody and the case was postponed to Tuesday, November 2 for legal representation.
According to the police, the possibility of adding further charges of kidnapping against the suspect cannot be ruled out.
Lieutenant General Semakaleng Daphney, the Provincial Commissioner of the police in Mpumalanga, has commended the partnership that was displayed between the tracking company and the Delmas Police.