Ekurhuleni police arrested a 39-year-old woman for possession of stolen goods at a house in Tembisa, after a private safekeeping company vehicle was hijacked.
Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department (EMPD) spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Kelebogile Thepa said unbeknown to the robbers, the electronic gadgets robbed from the Toyota panel van were fitted with a tracking device.
She said the stolen goods were recovered in the Mfeyaneng section of Tembisa.
“While patrolling on Andrew Mapheto Drive, EMPD officers were stopped and approached by two hysterical security personnel from a well-known private safekeeping company, alleging that they were just robbed/hijacked at gunpoint,” said Thepa.
The shaken personnel told police that the hijackers got away with a company’s Toyota panel van full of the electronic gadgets and medical equipment worth millions of rands. The robbers had driven the Toyota vehicle towards Rabasotho, while being escorted by a silver-grey Hyundai Getz.
“Since the stolen goods were fitted with a tracking device the signal was followed and directed officers to Vilakazi Street, in one of the houses. As law enforcers closed in, the male suspects jumped over fences and ran fast on foot, leaving a female occupant with the loot, inside the house,” said Thepa.
“All the stolen goods were uncovered in good tact, on the kitchen floor. The silver Hyundai Getz found, was tested and it was reported as recently stolen from the liable owner. The female suspect is facing charges of possession of stolen goods was handcuffed and marched to the Tembisa South police station.”
The 39-year-old woman is expected to appear before the Tembisa Magistrate’s Court soon.
Meanwhile, the recovered Hyundai Getz vehicle was taken to the Naturena police yard for safekeeping “and the hunt is on for the missing Toyota panel van and the lawbreakers involved”.
Earlier this month, a 22-year-old man was arrested by the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department’s K9 unit members on charges of hijacking and possession of an unlicensed firearm in Finetown, south of Joburg.
JMPD spokesperson, Superintendent Xolani Fihla said a courier bakkie was targeted by hijackers who did not know that the police officers were watching.
“On Wednesday, September 6, while on patrol officers came across a hijacking in progress in Zakariyya Park, where the victim was shoved in the back of a courier bakkie by the suspects,” Fihla said at the time.
The JMPD officers activated their blue lights and sirens, and chased the hijacked vehicle from Zakariyya Park to Finetown.
IOL