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Hijackings increase in SA
30/10/2006 22:35 - (SA)
Lynn Williams, Die Burger
Port Elizabeth - Do you know what to do in a hijacking situation? Do you know the danger signs?
A handy guide with useful information about vehicle hijackings has just been issued by a police inspector from the East Rand.
It follows on the heels of the latest crime statistics that showed hijackings were one of the crimes on the increase in South Africa, particularly so in the Eastern Cape.
The statistics show that between April 2005 and March this year there were 284 hijackings in Port Elizabeth, compared with 227 in the previous year and 142 between 2001-'02.
There were 525 hijackings reported in the province in the past year.
Not a new problem
Inspector Riaan Steenkamp of Elsburg police station drew up the guide which people can use to heighten their awareness of hijackings and, maybe, take evasive action.
Steenkamp's guide says the first hijacking was reported in 1984 and that they were not a new, nor unique, problem to South Africa.
The guide says there were about 9 000 hijackings in South Africa between January and August in 1996, 5 251 of them in Gauteng.
Hijackers were armed in 90% of the cases.
Most hijackers were men - but sometimes women were involved - and they usually worked in groups of four or more.
High-performance vehicles
Hijackers were mainly teenagers or in their twenties, but most victims said that an older "leader of the group" was present.
Steenkamp said the cars with which hijackers committed their crimes were usually high-performance vehicles, sometimes with dark-tinted windows.
"Their driving style is immediately suspicious. They sometimes drive around slowly for days in a certain area, without a purpose or in a specific direction."
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