Courier van hijacked at Walmer Park
A RAM courier vehicle was hijacked in the Walmer Park Shopping Centre carpark in Port Elizabeth yesterday.
There has been a spate of attacks on courier vans and trucks in the Nelson Mandela Bay metro.
The Ram driver and his passenger were found later – locked in the back of the courier vehicle in Walter Road, Charlo, police said.
The hijacking happened at about 9.30am when the van stopped outside the Fogarty’s Bookshop entrance, police spokeswoman Colonel Priscilla Naidu said.
“The driver and passenger got out of the vehicle to begin offloading items,” she said.
“As they opened the back of the vehicle three men approached them from behind.
“Two of the men were armed with firearms.”
The driver and assistant were pushed into the back of the delivery vehicle and the suspects drove off in it.
The courier vehicle stopped at the corner of Walter Road and Margery Avenue where a bakkie was waiting, Naidu said.
“The suspects then offloaded boxes of cellphones into their getaway vehicle,” she said.
“The driver and assistant of the courier company were left on the scene but their cellphones were stolen.” The suspects fled. The estimated value of the cellphones stolen was about R150 000.
Three weeks ago, two trucks carrying millions of rands worth of stock were hijacked in separate incidents in Nelson Mandela Bay over two days.
A day later another courier van, transporting cellphones, was hijacked outside the Kenako Mall at the corner of Spondo and Uitenhage roads.
Two weeks ago, an RTT courier bakkie was hijacked outside Shoprite in Dubu Street, in New Brighton.
In the latest spate of hijackings, targeting mainly courier vehicles, all the stock was stolen and the vehicles were found abandoned.
Naidu declined to specify whether it was one syndicate targeting the courier vehicles or separate gangs.
All the incidents are being investigated by the provincial Organised Crime Investigation Unit.