An unknown foreign national travelling on the R104 on Tuesday evening was involved in a spike robbery, with two other occupants.

This came after a string of such crimes were reported last year in and around Pretoria.

According to an anonymous source, the robbery happened on the Old Silverton Road, R104 after the Coke depot around 23:00.

“His BMW was spiked and lost control; when three occupants tried to get out of the car to check the cause of the accident, one was shot and wounded.”

“Seven robbers robbed them of their cellphones, wallets and other belongings.”

He said the Tshwane metro police were called by Boschkop patrollers to the scene.

“An ambulance was also called and transported a male patient to Mamelodi hospital in a stable condition.”

He said the robbers ran off into the bushes. No arrests were made.

It was alleged that the occupants of the vehicle reside in Namibia and were headed to Rustenburg, from an unknown location.

According to Zenita Smith from TJ Towing and Recovery, the vehicle’s passenger said that the driver encountered two rocks on the road which he swerved to avoid.

“They placed the rocks at two points; one rock was easily avoidable, the second was not.”

They then drove over the spikes.

“While they were getting out of the wreckage, a hail of bullets came down on them.”

She said the seven attackers shot at them before they even had a chance to take note of their surroundings.

She said the vehicle’s owner was still in hospital and that the vehicle was still at their premises, “however, it was written off”.

Gauteng emergency services spokesperson Sipho Sithole confirmed the incident.

This comes as Boschkop police continued to intensify their operations on the N4 highway to keep motorists safe from these gangs.

The spike gangs are known to rob motorists by placing spikes on the roads, forcing motorists to stop.

Also Read: East police keeping spike robbers at bay