Latest crime trends in Boksburg

Serious crimes recently reported in the Boksburg SAPS policing precinct.

Hijacking
• On August 26, a driver was hijacked while driving his employer’s car, a Suzuki Swift, in broad daylight, when criminals posing as police officers hoodwinked him into pulling over on the corner of Rondebult and Comet roads. After stopping, two men in reflector jackets alighted from a white VW Polo fitted with blue lights and approached the driver. As he was speaking to one of the so-called officers, the other went to the passenger side, got into the car and ordered the driver at gunpoint to drive to an undisclosed location.

When the car stopped at this location, the driver tried to escape but they caught him after he fell and then forced him into the Polo, where they blindfolded the driver and tied his feet and hands together before driving to another unknown location where he was later dumped. The criminals are described as two armed African males, dressed in reflector jackets.

• A truck driver was hijacked after he was pulled over by what appeared to be metro police in uniform, on the corner of Main Reef Road and 14th Avenue. One of the ‘officers’, driving a brown Toyota Corolla, asked for his driver’s licence and his passport, which he handed over.

He was asked to go to the Toyota Corolla where another “officer” who was seated in the car pointed a firearm at the truck driver and instructed him to get into the car. One of the men drove off in the truck while the other blindfolded the victim and tied his hands before he was driven to Leachville and released. Police registered a case of hijacking and kidnapping.

Murder
• A 38-year-old man, identified as Obey Mkhombo, was shot and killed in Jerusalem informal settlement on August 23. Police reports indicate that he was shot in the back of head and died on the scene. Residents flagged down a police van and pointed out the body.

• Another man was shot dead on the corner of Van Dyk Road and Power Street, Boksburg East. The deceased, identified as Mntomzi Ngxazana, was found by emergency services personnel. He had suffered two gunshot wounds, one to his right collarbone and the other to his right cheek. He was certified dead at the scene.

Kidnapping and armed robbery
• A Boksburg man reported being robbed at gunpoint and tied to a tree in the bushes next to a mineshaft in Benoni, where he spent the whole night. The victim told the Boksburg police that he was walking down Jubilee Road towards the Boksburg CBD when a silver Mazda 3, with three occupants, described as African males speaking Zulu, pulled up next to him and offered him a lift.

Once in the car, one of the occupants pointed a firearm at him while pressing him down and the car immediately changed direction and drove towards Brakpan. They pulled over in Heidelberg Road and started searching the victim’s bag for valuables.

They took his cellphone and bank cards before driving with him to Benoni and dragging him to the bushes near the mineshaft where he was fastened to a tree. The robbers left and came back after about two hours with another victim, who was also forced to sleep in the bushes the whole night. In the morning, the complainant was driven to Snake Road, where he was dropped off.

Also Read: Boksburg’s Crime Trends