Hijackers pose as police officers to hijack truck carrying tobacco products

21 January 2018 - 16:13 By Timeslive
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Truck. File photo
Truck. File photo
Image: iStock

Western Cape police have made a breakthrough in a case involving a hijacking of a truck transporting tobacco products in Mitchells Plain last week‚ by eight hijackers posing as police officers‚ with the arrest on Sunday of four suspects.

The hijackers used blue lights and a siren fitted on a white Ford Focus vehicle on Thursday to force the truck to pull of the road. The empty truck was later found abandoned in Macassar.

“Thorough investigations by the members of the Hijacking Team and Mitchells Plain detectives led them to an address in Mitchells Plain where the first suspect‚ a 32-year-old man was arrested this morning.

“He was found in possession of a Ford Focus fitted with a siren‚ loudspeaker and a blue light. Inside the vehicle‚ police found a SAPS issue beanie and a Traffic Services reflective jacket‚” said police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Andrè Traut.

He added that the arrest had led to three more suspects aged between 28 and 33 being arrested in Silversands.

“The circumstances surrounding the case are still under investigation and the possibility of more arrests is not ruled out. The cargo is also yet to be retrieved‚” Traut said.

He said the suspects are due to make a court appearance in Mitchells Plain once they have been charged.

Western Cape provincial commissioner Lieutenant-General KE Jula congratulated the investigators on what he called a job well done. He said that serious and violent crimes were in the police’s sights and that they would not rest until the offenders were apprehended.


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