The Acting Station Commander of the Ivory Park SAPS, Colonel Baba Mpotoane, has welcomed the swift arrest of one of the suspects responsible for hijacking a motor vehicle in Kaalfontein just an hour after the crime was committed.
Rabie Ridge SAPS police officers, together with members of a vehicle tracking company, last night responded to a signal which took them to Umthambeka Section in Tembisa and, as they approached the hijacked vehicle, the three occupants abandoned the vehicle and fled on foot.
“One was, luckily, arrested, and is behind bars at one of the police stations within the precinct. Apart from the recovery of the hijacked vehicle, the police also found an unlicensed firearm and ammunition and the cellular phone belonging to one of the victims.” said the Ivory Park SAPS Spokesperson, Captain Ben Matimulane.
“The victim and his friend were accosted in Kaalfontein last night by three men who forced them into the rear seat of the vehicle and drove off. Once an opportunity to escape the victims fled and went to the nearest house which they discovered was somewhere in Phomolong and managed to summon for help from there.” Captain Matimulane added.
The vehicle was followed and the trio was cornered in Umthambeka Section whereby one of the suspects, a 25 year old from Mqantsa Section, Tembisa, was arrested.
“This arrest should serve as a warning for any criminal from anywhere who seems to make the Ivory Park policing precinct a crime destination of choice. We are hard at work in trying to locate the other two,” said Colonel Mpotoane.
The suspect is expected to appear in the Tembisa Magistrate’s Court soon to answer to the charges levelled against him-possession of a hijacked motor vehicle, illegal possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition and possession of stolen property (the victim’s cellphone).
And should, during the investigations that are sure to follow, it emerges that he was involved in other criminal activities, those charges will be added said the Police.
