ONE hijacker was killed, two arrested and one escaped following a high speed chase with Brighton Beach SAPS officers that ended with a crash in Umlazi.
On Wednesday, 7 January a woman and her son were standing alongside their vehicle by the China Mall in Umbilo when two armed men threatened them and demanded their car. The mother and son ran away and the two men and two accomplices sped off, heading to Umlazi.
Brighton Beach SAPS task team members, Sergeant Robert Jooste and Constables Mohammed Rasool and Ernest Nene, who were on patrol on the M4 when the hijacking took place, immediately set off in search of the hijackers.
The officers waited at an Umlazi off-ramp and when the hijackers saw their marked vehicle they began shooting at the police, who returned fire. A high speed chase through the busy streets of Umlazi was brought to an end at the intersection of Mangosuthu Highway and Prince Mshiyeni Road when the driver of the hijacked car tried to make a handbrake turn and stalled.
Two of the hijackers got out and tried to run away. One of them continued firing at police as he ran, but he was shot and killed when the officers shot back. Two other hijackers were arrested, but police were unable to find the fourth man.
The arrested hijackers were charged with carjacking and attempted murder for firing at police. They will appear in Durban Regional Court on Monday, 12 January where police will oppose bail. The gun found next to the dead shooter was sent for ballistics analysis to determine if it was used in any other crimes.
“Sgt Jooste and Csts Rasool and Nene are commended for apprehending the suspects, recovering the stolen vehicle and firearm and for achieving all of this without causing injury or death to civilians or any harm coming to them,” said Brighton Beach SAPS communications officer, Captain Louise Le Roux.
The cluster task team, which was created in September, is tasked with addressing trio crimes within the Brighton Beach cluster policing area that includes Brighton Beach, Montclair, Wentworth, Cato Manor, Mayville and Umbilo. In the four months since its formation, the team has arrested 32 people for hijacking, six for business robberies and four for house robberies, and recovered 24 firearms and 41 hijacked vehicles.
