MALALANE – They were busted yesterday after being found with two hijacked trucks in separate incidents.The arrest of the Zimbabwean man, Eustice Phiri (37), came after police received information regarding a suspicious tipper truck which was on the N4 highway heading towards Malalane. The Lebombo Border Post Tracing Team then launched a lookout for it.
The team then spotted and stopped the truck in Malalane. After a short probe, police discovered that it was hijacked from the owner at Welbekend outside Tshwane.
The second suspect a Mozambican male, Lucas Mkhonto (43), was nabbed at Lebombo Border Post while attempting to cross the border without a passport which was suspicious to the police. As a result, they instituted a probe and were able to trace the lawful owners of the truck. The owner denied any knowledge of the suspect.
Further probe revealed that the suspect had allegedly hijacked the truck at Diepsloot in Gauteng.
Both trucks were en-route to Mozambique and the suspects are facing charges of possession stolen trucks. They will also be facing charges of hijacking at the respective police stations where the incidents took place.
Both suspects were remanded in custody for further investigation. The case against Mkhonto was postponed to Tuesday, January 26, at the Komatipoort Periodical Court, whilst that against Phiri it was postponed to Wednesday, January 27, at the Malalane Periodical Court.
