Police would like to warn the public of the latest modus operandi where criminals use bakkies to commit crime in Rand West City.

Brigadier Mashole Manamela, the Randfontein Police station commander said while it is a well-known fact that robbers use high-performance vehicles to flee crime scenes easily, he warned that lately, criminals – while they’re armed and dangerous – masquerade as innocent workers on the back of bakkies.

Manamela said since the festive season, police have observed that the use of bakkies has become prevalent in crimes such as business robberies, CIT heists and hijackings in the area.

He said, “They have changed their modus operandi. They sit on the back of bakkies and pretend to be construction workers or those doing manual labour.”

Manamela said to the general public, they appear to be innocent, but he warns that they’re often dangerous and pounce on their unsuspecting victims.

We have witnessed the same method in a number of business robberies. Even in the robbery that took place at the service station in Finsbury recently, the suspect was using a bakkie and employed the same method, but fortunately we managed to apprehend three suspects,” Manamela said.

Also read: Finsbury service station targeted in armed robbery: Three arrested

He urged residents to be vigilant at all times, and also praised the community for proactively helping the police by reporting crime in the area.