A hijacked truck transporting goods worth over R1 million was traced to Bredell through its tracking device in the early hours of Friday morning and seven suspects arrested.

The truck was coming from Nelmapius, Pretoria when it was hijacked in the Welbekend area. Tracking company Netstar picked up the signal but at first struggled to trace it as its battery was low.

According to Capt Jethro Mtshali, spokesperson for Kempton Park SAPS, the location of the truck was finally pin pointed at about 3am and Netstar personnel with members of Kempton’s Crime Prevention Unit located the horse on Third Road just before 4am.

“Two suspects were inside the truck and when they saw the police vehicle, they attempted to flee while one of them shot at the police,” Mtshali confirmed.

One suspect was caught while the armed one managed to get away. He is still on the run and police are looking for him.

“A second signal then led the police and the Netstar team to a warehouse storage facility on Ninth Road where the trailor of the truck carrying the goods was discovered.”

Some of the boxes of goods had already been off-loaded into the storage facilities on the premises. The boxes contained toiletries and cleaning detergents such as soap and dish washing liquid, including hand lotions worth more than R1 million.

“Six more suspects were arrested at the storage facility, including the manager of the warehouse.”

The owners arrived later but denied knowing anything about the hijacked truck. The goods were taken out of the storage facility at about 1pm and will be returned to the rightful owners in Nelmapius.

“All the suspects, who are  in their 30s and 40s, will appear in court on Monday on charges of  possession of a stolen vehicle and stolen goods,” Mtshali said.

Workers at the warehouse in Bredell off load the goods.