TWO alleged truck hijackers are behind bars and the truck’s R700 000 cargo is safe after swift action by Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department on Wednesday.
The arrest was made on the R21 near Nelmapius Road.
The hijacking follows on the heels of another incident on Atlas Road earlier this week in which a guard was critically wounded.
According to Lt Col Wilfred Kgasago, metro police spokesman, the cargo was destined for a Clicks warehouse.
“Well-coordinated teamwork between our equestrian unit members and a vehicle tracking company’s officers resulted in the truck with its stock, which was hijacked along the R50 in Bapsfontein, being recovered and two suspects taken in. The recovery and the arrests took place this morning (Wednesday) around 8am on the R21 southbound just before Saint George’s hotel in Irene,” Kgasago said.
He said the vehicle tracking company smelled a rat when the truck’s signal was intermittently disrupted and the truck suddenly took a non-planned route. On being alerted, equestrian unit members jumped into action and were able to track the hijacked truck’s movements from the R50 until it got onto the R21 at the Nelmapius on-ramp, where it was cornered and the two suspects apprehended.
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A six-fin jammer – a gadget used to immobilise signals -was found in the hijacked truck. The hunt is on for two vehicles with about four occupants believed to have been involved in the hijacking. The driver of the hijacked truck was dumped in Tembisa.
The arrested pair, aged 31 and 38, were charged with possession of a hijacked truck at Lyttleton Police Station, while the driver was assisted with laying a charge of hijacking at Welbekend Police Station.
