Hijackers are no match for EL Flying Squad in crackdown

Cops swoop with more than 100 ‘Fiela 2’ arrests

POLICE and thugs exchanged gunfire on Buffalo Pass in a weekend of mayhem in which four cars were hijacked.

Police arrested carjackers.

Separately, as part of Operation Fiela 2, police in the King William’s Town cluster made a further 100 arrests on charges that ranged from robbery and assault to drug possession.

In one high-speed chase along the coastal R76, hijackers were brought to a halt near Kidds Beach.

In another, an off-duty reservist single-handedly forced carjackers eight suspected to a stop.

In an attack on one of the car owners, police-issue pepper spray was used by the thugs.

All four cars stolen between Alice and East London were recovered by the East London Flying Squad.

● On Sunday the EL Flying Squad arrested five youths in possession of a vehicle stolen at Eastern Beach. Police spokeswoman Warrant Officer Hazel Mqala said the owner of the car was at the beachfront with his girlfriend when they were attacked by thugs armed with two knives who sprayed them with police-issue pepper spray.

“The vehicle was chased on the R72, and near Kidds Beach we arrested them,” she said. The men appeared in the East London Magistrate’s Court today.

● Also on Sunday, a white VW Golf was hijacked at Rhythm Bar, Amalinda.

An off-duty reservist, a Sergeant Pieters from Buffalo Flats visible policing, gave chase and managed to stop the thieves near the Douglas Smith Highway. Pieters escorted the vehicle with his own vehicle at Andries Crescent and called for backup from East London Flying Squad. “They recovered the stolen vehicle and a male suspect, 31, was arrested,” said Mqala. He appeared in the East London Magistrate’s Court yesterday.

● In the early hours of Saturday EL Flying Squad members received a call from radio control that a stolen bakkie had been in a business robbery in the Bhisho area. Four armed men were fleeing on the Mount Coke Road to East London.

Police gave chase and near the corner of Buffalo Pass and Mount Coke Road the robbers drove into the bush.

“The four jumped out of the stolen vehicle and started to shoot at police and they returned fire.

A 29-year-old was arrested in the bush with no injuries,” said Mqala.

Three plasma television sets, two laptops, a lot of jewellery, money, clothing, alcohol and tobacco were recovered.

● Four suspects appeared in court on Sunday on charges of business robbery, possession of stolen property and attempted murder.

On Friday, East London Flying Squad members recovered a Toyota Etois at Nahoon Road, Southernwood that had been hijacked in Alice.

A 29-year-old man was arrested. King William’s Town Captain Siphokazi Mawisa, of the SAPS, said of their Operation Fiela 2 actions: “Police were claiming space from the criminals by partaking in foot and farm patrols and conducting stop-and-search operations in the areas and they managed to arrest more than 100 suspects aged between 20 and 51 years.

“The charges included possession of stolen property, common robbery, possession of drugs, possession of ammunition, dealing in liquor without a licence, common assault, housebreaking and theft.”