Police rescued a 43-year-old man who says he was hijacked by three men pretending to be law enforcement officers in Tsakani, Ekurhuleni, last night.

The man, a driver for a courier company, told police he was hijacked by three fake law enforcement officers driving a branded Gauteng Traffic Police Polo. They were in full traffic police uniforms, had masks and carried handguns.

SAPS spokesperson Captain Nelda Sekgobela says two police officers were patrolling the area at the time. They saw the lights of two stationary vehicles as they were passing an open field between Tsakani Ext 22 and the BP filling station. As they approached, they were fired at.

The officers returned fire and called for backup. As they moved closer to the vehicles, they saw a white Iveco delivery vehicle with the keys in the ignition.

“It was half loaded with Skynet Courier consignments, mostly from Avon. Most of the load was already offloaded and on the ground, with some boxes partly ripped open. The second car found at the scene, a white Volkswagen Polo branded with the Gauteng Traffic Police Saturation Unit, also had keys in the ignition,” says Sekgobela.

“Inside the Polo, there was a male (43), allegedly the hijacked victim, who told police he was pulled off the road and hijacked on the N3, about 5km from the Total filling station, driving towards Heidelberg and not far from Vosloorus,” she adds.

According to Sekgobela, the victim says the suspects ‘arrested’ him for driving erratically, and he was put in the back seat of the Polo.

“The third suspect continued to drive the Iveco until they got to the Tsakani open field,” she adds.

All suspects fled the scene on foot during the shootout, in which no police members were wounded.

Two pairs of pants, a brown Gauteng Traffic Police shirt, a reflector jacket and a cellphone were found inside the Polo, Sekgobela confirms.