Cops see through suspected hijacker’s ‘hostage’ story

A scheme to avoid arrest backfired on an alleged hijacker when he played the victim and tried to convince police he was being held hostage by his alleged accomplices in a house in New Brighton.

However, the police quickly saw through his ruse and he was arrested, along with five other suspects, shortly after a courier vehicle was hijacked in Bethelsdorp and traced to the address in Maqoma Street, New Brighton.

Suspected stolen goods worth R150,000 were recovered from the scene after members of the Nelson Mandela Bay flying squad and truck-jacking units, in co-operation with operatives from Certus Security Services, followed leads and cornered the suspects.

The series of events started at about 11am on Monday when the driver of the courier vehicle was on his delivery route and stopped at a shop in Rensburg Street in West End, Bethelsdorp.

On returning to his vehicle, two men armed with firearms approached him.

The delivery driver was shoved into his vehicle before the suspects got in with him.

They took the driver to a location in Missionvale, where the goods he was transporting were loaded into another vehicle. They then fled the scene.

Operatives from Certus Security Services were notified and immediately started their own investigation.

“We received information that the suspects were heading in the direction of New Brighton,” one of the security operatives, who declined to be named, said.

“I was in contact with the police and once I had confirmed the address in Maqoma Street, I drove past and saw a vehicle matching the description of the getaway car.

“I notified the police and they arrived moments later.

“Upon arrival, the police surrounded the building and I went to the back of the house.

“At that moment, a man came out the front door and ran to the backyard.

“When he saw me, he quickly changed direction and I could see him pulling something out from the front of his pants.”

He said the suspect pointed what looked like a firearm at police officers.

He heard officers yelling at the suspect, followed by a gunshot.

The suspect was detained and the firearm in his possession turned out to be a replica gas pistol.

The man, 32, was wounded in the abdomen and taken to hospital for treatment.

Police officers went inside the house and five more men were brought outside and made to lie down on the ground.

“As they were brought out, no-one said a word.

“Only after a few minutes did one of the men quickly turn around and claim he was being held hostage and that he was in fact the victim in a separate hijacking that took place earlier that same morning,” the operative said.

The other four suspects agreed that this man was not part of their group and that he was being held against his will.

However, the ruse quickly fell apart when police started questioning them.

Police spokesperson Colonel Priscilla Naidu confirmed the claims of a secondary hijacking were proved false, and the man claiming to be a victim was arrested along with the wounded man and the four other suspects.

“A total of six suspects, between the ages of 22 and 38,

were arrested on the scene,” she said.

“Inside the house, officers found clothing, cellphone accessories and laptops — all items believed to have been taken from the courier vehicle.

“Besides the gas pistol, police members also recovered an authentic 9mm pistol and 130 rounds of ammunition,” Naidu said.

She said the six were arrested on charges of possession of stolen property, attempted murder and illegal possession of firearms and ammunition.

Additional charges of hijacking and kidnapping could be added later.

In a separate incident, quick action by members of the police’s crime combating unit (CCU) in Nelson Mandela Bay led to the recovery of a landscaping company’s bakkie, trailer and lawn-mowing equipment less than two hours after it was stolen on Tuesday morning.

Police spokesperson Captain Gerda Swart said the driver of a Mahindra bakkie was at a residence in Ndlovu Street, KwaNobuhle, at about 2.20pm when two men approached and pointed a firearm at him.

“They were cutting grass at the premises and the driver was sitting in the bakkie, making a phone call, when the suspects approached him.

“They demanded the keys and his cellphone before driving off with the bakkie, trailer and lawn-mowing equipment that was still on the trailer.”

Swart said CCU members received information that led them to a house in Kotane Street at about 3.30pm, less than 2km from where the robbery took place.

The vehicle, trailer, a lawnmower, fuel pump and other electric equipment, valued at about R300,000, were found abandoned there.

The investigation continues.