Man held in Roodepoort for robbery

2012-11-19 07:34

(File, Sapa)

Johannesburg - A man was arrested for armed robbery in Roodepoort after metro police spotted his van following a truck, Johannesburg metro police said on Sunday.

Spokesperson Wayne Minnaar said that on Friday metro police spotted a van following a truck in Durban Deep, Roodepoort at midday.

"When the driver of the van saw the metro cops, he tried to make a u-turn but was stopped, [as] was the truck.

"The two men who were in the truck managed to escape on foot but the driver of the van was captured," he said.

Minnaar said the metro officers discovered that the driver of the truck had been hijacked at gunpoint at the nearby Sol Plaatje informal settlement.

At the back of the truck the officers found boxes of cigarettes of an unknown value, he said.

They also found the truck’s driver and his assistant tied up at the back up the vehicle, Minnaar said.

The van had false number plates.

"The suspect and his accomplice who escaped were heading to an area where they planned to offload the cigarettes into the van.

The captured man has been charged and will appear in the Roodepoort Magistrate's Court on Monday.

- SAPA