An alert member managed to recover a truck suspected to have been hijacked at Koppies and arrested a suspicious male who was found in the truck on Tuesday, 14 September 2021.

Warrant Officer Gielie Strauss spotted a truck parked next to the road, on the off-ramp from R59 towards the Vaal Plaza and left it there.

Later at about 22:25, Gauteng Response Unit reported that a truck owner has reported that he picked up that the driver that is driving his truck is not his driver which raised a suspicion. It was suspected that the truck was hi-jacked and the truck he spotted earlier might be the truck in question.

When WO Strauss went back to the truck he found that the truck fit the description of the possible hijacked truck. This time he found an African male in the truck. Upon interrogation, the man said that the truck was hijacked. The owner was informed and he came to the scene. While still at the scene, the original driver arrived at the Engen One Stop with his hands tied up and signs of injuries on the face.

A 32 year old driver reported that at about 19:30 earlier, he was stopped at the Koppies Rooiwal off-ramp by unknown African males with a Red Hyundai i10 with a blue light in the front window. He thought they were Traffic Department officials.  He further alleged that he was pointed with firearm and forced back into the truck. He said they drove for a while, stopped and offloaded him in the field where two males guarded him while one left with a truck.

They were allegedly picked up by unknown vehicle. He then walked to the N1 road and walked to the Engen One Stop where he reported the incident.

Suspect 39, Zimbabwean foreign national residing in Johannesburg was arrested and a Freightliner truck with two trailers and its load valued at about R3 000 000-00 were confiscated by the police. He will be charged for truck hijacking and will appear at Koppies Magistrates’ Court on Friday, 17 September 2021.

Source: South African Police Service