A 22-year-old man has been arrested by the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department’s K9 unit members on charges of hijacking and possession of an unlicensed firearm in Finetown, south of Joburg.
JMPD spokesperson, Superintendent Xolani Fihla said a courier bakkie was targeted by hijackers who did not know that the police were watching.
“On Wednesday, September 6, while on patrol officers came across a hijacking in progress in Zakariyya Park, where the victim was shoved in the back of a courier bakkie by the suspects,” said Fihla.
The JMPD officers activated their blue lights and sirens, and chased the hijacked vehicle from Zakariyya Park to Finetown.
During the high-speed chase, two of the suspected robbers managed to escape.
“The suspects jumped out of the moving vehicle and two of the three suspects managed to flee on foot. One male suspect was apprehended and when searched, an unlicensed firearm was found in his possession,” said Fihla.
The arrested man was detained at Lenasia South SA Police Service (SAPS).
The hijacked courier vehicle was seized and booked in at the SAPS Lenasia pound.
Last year, police in Witbank arrested two men following the robbery of a DSV courier vehicle where cellphones were stolen.
According to police information at the time, a group of armed people stopped a DSV courier bakkie on the R544 Road and robbed the driver of about 40 cellphones.
“It is said that the alleged robbers also forced the victim into the back of the bakkie container before they left,” Mpumalanga police spokesperson, Brigadier Selvy Mohlala said at the time.
“At around 9.40am, members of visible policing from Witbank SAPS received information about suspicious vehicles. The members then mobilised their resources, thereby tracking the suspects, with the assistance from a private tracking company.”
Mohlala said the team went to the Uthingo Park area in Witbank where the suspects were found offloading items from two cars, a white Volkwagen Polo and a blue Volkswagen Polo.
Two of the alleged robbers escaped and two were arrested.
Police found 40 stolen cellphones, a Vektor Sp1 9mm pistol with 14 rounds of ammunition and a toy gun. The serial number of the pistol was reportedly filed off.
IOL