Lieutenant Colonel Solly Thobejane is sending a strong message to those that open false crime cases to personally gain from it to immediately stop. This follows after a man opened a truck hijacking case that turned out to be fake.
He now faces charges of theft and perjury. He was not alone in this case, he allegedly planned the hijacking story together with his three colleagues who respectively face charges of theft.
The man was driving the South African Brewery (SAB) truck form the company’s deport at Ferrobank on December 30, 2016 when the incident took place.
He was meant to make a delivery at Groblersdal’s SAB, in the truck was beer worth R160 000.
In a statement given by him to the police he alleged that he was stopped by two armed men driving in a gold VW Polo.
The suspects got in the vehicle and drove towards the Old Middelburg Road’s direction, during that time the man was at the back of the truck tied.
He further alleged that he was dropped off at Dennilton with the truck and beers while the suspects also took numerous cases of beer as well. The following day he claimed he was found by a community member and was taken to Dennilton Police Station where he opened a case of truck hijacking however the case was transferred to Vosman Police Station.
As investigations continued they discovered that he lied about being hijacked and how the hijacking panned out. He was then arrested on Friday, January 6 where he was found with R28 000 on him that he allegedly got as payment from a tavern owner at Mhluzi, Middelburg.
Apparently what had actually happened on the day of the hijacking was the man delivered an extra amount of beer at Mhluzi than what he was supposed to for extra money for himself and tried to cover it up by lying to the law stating that he was hijacked with the fear of his employer catching him out.
He was supposed to receive more payment from the tavern owner but since the police caught him, he could not. The owner of the tavern also got implicated in the case and was also arrested. The four men who planned the hijack are however out on bail but the investigations are on-going.
Commander of the trio task team, Lt Col Thobejane warned people against stealing from their employers stating that should you be involved in such a saga, there will be dire consequences coming your way.
“Should you lie about being a victim of crime and we catch you out, you will be in big trouble. Be warned we are on our way” was his last words.
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