According to information received from Brakpan police, the 30-year-old driver of the vehicle — a Volkswagen Transporter van — had stopped at about 9.05am, at a petrol station along Voortrekker Road, to make a delivery.

“While unloading the boxes, which contained cartons of cigarettes, he saw two men acting suspiciously,” said Capt Joep Joubert, spokesperson for the Brakpan police station commander.

“As the driver was about to go inside the shop on the premises, one of the men grabbed him by the belt.

“The driver, who was equipped with a panic button, immediately pressed it.”

Joubert told the Herald that the driver then saw a man alighting a red Datsun 1400 bakkie.

“This male approached the driver and showed him a firearm, which he had concealed at his side,” said Joubert.

“The driver was forced into the van.”

The van was stopped along Hastings Avenue, where the driver claimed, a gang of about nine men were waiting.

“The men allegedly forced him to unload the boxes of cigarettes into another vehicle, and then left.”

The driver was unharmed and a case of armed robbery is being investigated.

Read the previous story here: Cigarette vehicle hijacked