Fake cops hijack car, truck

2008-08-14 11:33

Johannesburg - A truck and a car were hijacked in Delmas by men who claimed to be traffic officers or police, Mpumalanga police said on Wednesday.

Superintendent Izak van Zyl said numerous cases of hijackers disguised as officers had been reported in the Delmas area in the past five years, "at least one a month".

A 28-year-old man, driving a white Toyota Hilux, was approached and stopped by two males wearing traffic cops uniforms at 10:00 on Wednesday.

Inspector D Manqina said the men were driving a white Golf with a blue light.

"The suspects asked for his driver's licence, then one of them pointed a firearm at him and ordered him to get out of the vehicle," said Manqina.

"They covered his face with a cloth, then forced him into a green Honda Ballade. The driver drove away with him to the bushes where they left him," he added.

Shortly after this incident a 42-year-old man was driving a white Nissan truck between Nigel and Delmas when a person in a "police Golf" warned him about a problem with his tyre.

"The complainant stopped the truck to check the tyres when a brown vehicle approached him with three unknown males. Two of them, armed with firearms, told him that they are on duty," said Constable S Mahilo from the Delmas police station.

"They forced him into the vehicle and drove away with him. The suspects drove with him to Delmas where they tied him up with his shoe laces," said Mashilo.

There had been no arrests.

- SAPA