Warning: Hijackers impersonating police among two incidents in Dalpark in one day
Within hours, two separate hijackings unfolded in Dalpark, one involving police impersonators and the other a father and his children.
Last Thursday saw a driver kidnapped by police impersonators in a brazen morning hijacking, and later a father and his children hijacked during a business meet-up gone wrong.
According to information received from SAPS, the driver of a white Toyota Hilux was travelling along Heidelberg Road (R23) near the Airport Drive intersection at around 09:45 when he noticed a Nissan Impendula minibus behind him with flashing lights.
The minibus pulled up alongside the driver with a woman in the vehicle scolding him, saying “Can’t you see we are stopping you.”
After stopping, the woman approached the victim and asked for his driver’s licence. He noted she was wearing a reflective police jacket.
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The woman told the victim to follow her to the minibus, which he did. She then opened the passenger door of the minibus, which had three male occupants, also wearing reflective jackets.
The woman pushed the victim inside, and one of the men pointed a gun at him. They covered the victim’s face and told him to lie down. He was driven to an open veld in Boksburg and released.
The victim’s two cellphones were stolen along with the Hilux. In a separate incident later that day, the driver of a white Mahindra Karoo was hijacked with his children in the vehicle.
The victim had arranged to meet a prospective business client but first collected his children from school and then stopped at a petrol station in Dalpark.
He and the prospective client had never met in person. After stopping at the petrol station at around 15:00, the victim was approached by a man who claimed to be the client.
This man climbed inside the victim’s vehicle and directed him to drive to an address in Maryvlei. When they arrived, the gate they stopped in front of was closed and the man then made a call, supposedly to his uncle, for him to come and open the gate.
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A white Renault Triber with five male occupants suddenly pulled up, and three men got out of this vehicle and approached the victim.
One of the men threatened the victim with a gun and told him to get in the Triber. The hijackers then searched the victim, taking his cellphone, bank cards and a laptop. They also took his daughter’s iPhone, and withdrew R3 500 from his bank account.
The victim and his children were later dropped off in Cloverdene, Benoni. Before releasing him, the hijackers called the victim’s wife and demanded R50 000, which she told them she didn’t have.
The Mahindra was recovered in the Benoni area by a tracking company. Hijacking and kidnapping dockets were opened for both cases.
