Manhunt for blue lights hijackers
POLICE have launched a manhunt for three of four members of a gang that hijacked a car using the police blue lights.
One gang member was arrested following a high-speed chase with the police in Kaalfontein, east of Johannesburg, on Sunday.
The driver of the hijacked Ford Ranger was on his way to deliver the new unregistered car to a dealership in Midrand.
The suspects were also travelling in a Ford Ranger that was reported hijacked in Midrand last week.
Police spokesman Captain Manyadza Ralidzhivha said the men used blue lights to pull the Ford Ranger double cab bakkie off the road after it had stopped at a robot on Sunday.
They pointed the driver with firearms and he jumped out of the car. One of the suspects drove in the hijacked car while the other three drove in the getaway car,” he said.
Ralidzhivha said police later spotted the getaway car in nearby Ivory Park and gave chase. The chase ended at a dead-end road in Kaalfontein Extension 4 where they abandoned the car and ran in different directions. One of the suspects was caught in the process,” he said.
Ralidzhivha said police recovered a plugged-in blue light, two police reflector jackets, two sport bags with three firearms, an R5 rifle with 25 rounds of ammunition, a model 75 pistol with 25 live rounds of ammunition, a Z88 firearm with 12 rounds, six channel jamming devices, gloves and cables.
He said the arrested man had a pending case of car hijacking, committed in Silverton, Pretoria and another of possession of an unlicensed firearm.
This is not the only case where criminals used police blue lights to commit crimes.
In September 2014, two robbers believed to be members of a blue light gang were killed in a shootout with members of the Hawks team in Midrand. Police chased the car they were travelling in when they realised it was a cloned, marked police Chevrolet Cruze.
A shootout ensued and the chase ended in Midrand’s Glen Austin area, along the Old Johannesburg Road and George Street.
According to the SA Crime Bureau, a staggering R8.5-billion worth of vehicles are stolen in SA annually. Almost 30% are taken across the border to neighbouring countries where syndicates are making huge profits.