Cop car’s number plates cloned

THE public have been warned to be alert to a VW GTI operating on Gauteng’s roads with cloned registration plates that belong to one of the Joburg Metro Police Department’s cars.

The white GTI shares the same number plate – CL 31 VL GP – with a VW Polo Vivo sedan, also white, that has since been impounded.

JMPD spokesperson Wayne Minnaar said he learnt about the cloned number plates on Facebook after people shared the pictures on social media.

One of them, Rakesh Suknadan, who alerted Emergency SA on Facebook, said the white Polo was spotted in Durban, while the white Golf GTI was spotted in Gauteng.

The Polo Vivo was recovered on Wednesday near a farm in the Vaal after police received a tip-off, according to Minnaar.

He said the occupants of the car fled when the police tried to stop them.

Warrant Officer Sello Mafokotsana from Sedibeng confirmed that a white Polo Vivo had been recovered, but said the suspects were still at large.

“When police stopped the vehicle, four suspects in the car disappeared into bushes near a farm in the Vaal,” he said.

BE ON THE LOOKOUT: The white VW Polo Vivo, main picture, fitted with the registration plates of the Joburg Metro Police Department’s car, inset right. On the left, a VW GTI with the same cloned number plate.