![](https://images.caxton.co.za/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2016/04/Untitled1.jpg)
A man was hijacked by ‘hitchhikers’ on the N12 highway on Monday.
Springs police spokesman Capt Johannes Ramphora says a 39-year-old man who was driving a blue Land Rover offered a lift to three men who were hitchhiking along the N12 at 6pm.
Once inside the vehicle, two of the suspects pulled out firearms and pulled the driver to the back seat.
The third suspect moved over to the driver’s seat and they drove off.
Not far from where they were picked up, they stopped the vehicle, and the three suspects dragged the victim out of the car into an open field.
The victim was tied up with shoelaces.
Ramphora says one of the armed suspects waited with the victim, while the other two suspects drove off to check if the vehicle was fitted with a tracking device.
According to Ramphora the victim claims it was about two hours later that the armed suspect received a phone call from the other two suspects.
The two suspects returned in the Land Rover to pick up their accomplice.
“All three suspects then drove off, leaving the victim stranded, and are still at large,” says Ramphora.
The police appealed to motorists not to give lifts to hitchhikers.
“We are investigating the case,” says Ramphora.