Sector members spotted a suspicious-looking Nissan truck on Cloverdene Road, and found that it was still idling.
“The members organised surveillance and, after several hours of no one approaching the truck, the members tested it and could not establish any ownership, as it had a Botswana registration number,” said Tryna Maritz, media liaison officer at Crystal Park SAPS.
The officers drove the truck to the police station and, on Wednesday, Capt JC Makubo and Maritz made phone calls to track down the owner, while the driver of the truck was still missing.
Maritz says the owner of the truck flew in from Bostwana and identified the vehicle, which was apparently hijacked in Rustenburg, on Tuesday, at 8pm.
Maritz says the driver was forced into a white car and held for a long time before being dropped off in Koster, in the North-West, on Wednesday afternoon, June 25.He then reported the hijacking case, but the load of the truck and forklift batteries had already been removed when the vehicle was found by sector members
“The estimated value of the load is R480 000, and the robbers left the compressor inside the truck,” said Maritz.
The owner of the truck expressed his gratitude to the SAPS, for locating and assisting him.
Crystal Park station commander Lieut Col Belinda Motaung thanked the members for doing a great job locating the truck owner, being observant and recovering the hijacked vehicle.
