Police in Alexandra believe they have finally closed in on the hijacking syndicate that has been plaguing the community, mostly targeting e‑hailing motorbikes.

For four months, the Alexandra police station has been inundated with reports of hijackings across the community. On Tuesday, police arrested four suspected hijackers at a house on 16th Joe Nhlanhla Street.

Station Commander Brigadier Vusimuzi Ngubane said the suspects were arrested in an intelligence‑driven operation. He explained that they received information linking the young men to hijacking incidents.

Read more: Motorists and e-hailing drivers face rising hijacking threat in Alexandra

“In Alexandra, we have a problem with hijackers targeting Uber and Bolt motorbikes. Every day we are experiencing the same problem. They are reporting hijackings. We arrested four young men,” he said.

Ngubane confirmed that the suspects were taken in for questioning. Police are still working to determine the extent of their involvement in hijacking cases in the community.

“The task team dealing with hijacking cases is busy collecting evidence and calling complainants so that we can investigate further. If we investigate further, we must rebuild the case and call the complainants so that they identify the suspects,” he said.

He added that the complainants will ascertain whether the suspects are the alleged hijackers. Ngubane expressed confidence that the police will successfully solve the case.

Also read: Residents slam police over drugs, murders, and shortages of resources

In a previous interview with Alex News, Ngubane revealed that police knew who the syndicate members behind the spate of hijacking incidents were and where they lived. It remains unclear if the arrested suspects are part of those alleged syndicate members.

At the time, police said they still needed to conduct thorough investigations to build a strong case.

Ngubane had emphasised that they could not act on accusations alone, but they needed to gather their own intelligence to tighten their case for prosecution.

The arrests come on the back of multiple reports of hijackings in Alexandra this year. In January alone, 18 cases of hijacking were recorded at the police station, and the majority of cases, according to Ngubane, involved e‑hailing cars, followed by motorbikes.

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