The attempted hijacking of a cigarette truck and a high-speed chase through oncoming highway traffic outside Pretoria left a motoristand a gunman wounded yesterday.
The attack on the British American Tobacco vehicle in Mamelodi is the second within days in Gauteng.
On Thursday last week, police arrested two members of a group of gunmen who had hijacked a BAT truck delivering cigarettes at a Kempton Park shopping centre.
According to the Mobile Agri Skills Development and Training organisation, South Africa loses R7-billion a year in tax revenue through illegal cigarette sales.
The organisation says 19 million illegal cigarettes are sold daily in the country.
The tobacco industry loses over R2-billion a year as a result of the sale of illegal cigarettes.
Yesterday's attack occurred after the driver and his crew stopped at a shopping centre to deliver cigarettes. As they were unloading the cigarettes, seven men armed with handguns pounced on them.
A security guard spotted the robbers and raised the alarm.
Police spokesman Warrant Officer David Miller said the gunmen fled in a BMW and a VW Golf. Police spotted the vehicles near the Mamelodi Day Hospital and tried to stop them but the robbers sped off.
They swerved into oncoming traffic in an attempt to evade their pursuers, eventually splitting up.
Miller said officers lost sight of the VW Golf but continued pursuing the BMW.
Police eventually forced the driver to take the Watermeyer off-ramp, where he crashed into a motorist driving through the intersection. The motorist was injured.
The suspect tried to escape on foot. Police fired two warning shots before shooting him in the leg.
The suspect is under police guard in a local hospital.
Professor Robert Thornton, a researcher on South Africa's illegal economies, said the illegal cigarette trade was growing.
"The government definitely has no control over this industry," he said.
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