Police arrested 23 suspected truck hijackers during an intelligence-driven operation on 25 June in President Park.
The South African Police Service’s national spokesperson, Vish Naidoo said their intelligence-driven operation comprised multi-disciplinary team members of South African Police Services Crime Intelligence, Johannesburg Flying Squad, Gauteng Highway Patrol, Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department’s Specialised Task Team and the Johannesburg Metro Police Department’s K9 unit. The officers swooped in on the suspects allegedly planning to hijack a truck between Pretoria and Johannesburg.
Naidoo added that as the team entered the premises of the suspects, they were met with gunfire by some of the suspects who were allegedly armed with rifles and handguns.
He added that there were 27 suspects on the premises, four of which were shot and killed and four others who were wounded. “A total of 23 suspects, including the four wounded suspects, are under arrest. The team seized three rifles including an AK-47 rifle and an R5 rifle as well as two pistols at the scene,” said Naidoo.
“The team further confiscated 15 vehicles at the scene of which four were either hijacked or stolen in the areas of Garsfontein, Silverton, Wierdabrug and Olifantsfontein.”
Naidoo added that the wounded suspects were taken to hospital under police guard while the remaining 19 suspects were detained on charges of attempted murder, conspiring to commit armed robbery, unlawful possession of firearms, ammunition and possession of vehicles suspected to be stolen.
The National Commissioner, General Kehla John Sitole welcomed the arrests, adding that the work done by this multidisciplinary integrated team was a very significant contribution to their efforts to curb organised crime in the country.
Police Minister Bheki Cele added that the case was an interesting one as there were members of different nationalities. “We have people from KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and Zimbabwe, so there must be a good coordinator that puts that kind of a team together. All of them will be profiled.”
The minister added that the suspects were not amateurs as they were well prepared. “Whatever they were going to do was going to be serious and leave a big impact. Thanks to our police and crime intelligence, ours is to make sure that we produce the results and keep South Africans safe because this is what South Africans expect from us, to be safe. The police did exactly what they were supposed to do.”
Details: Crime Stop 086 00 10111.
