By Abram Mashego.
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The police have arrested four of their own for allegedly being involved in blue-light truck hijacking syndicate along the N3 highway in Gauteng.
According to an incident report on one of the hijackings, which City Press has seen, the officers were nabbed on Thursday after they used blue lights to stop and hijack a truck. They were also found with illegal firearms and ammunition.
The suspects were also linked to another truck hijacking in which a similar modus operandi was used.
The report on the latest incident on 4 March, sent to Gauteng police chief Lieutenant-General Tommy Mthombeni on Tuesday, said a tip off was received from the provincial intervention unit about a truck hijacking in which a SA Police Service BMW vehicle and two Gauteng Traffic Police bikes were used to stop one of the trucks and a vehicle which was escorting it.
The truck was hijacked and the escorting security officers disarmed.
The report reads: Security officers driving the escort vehicle were disarmed by civilians in the presence of police officers and traffic officers. After informers and contact people were then tasked [to investigate], on Thursday information was received from the informant about the whereabouts of the suspect known to him as a colonel residing in Tembisa.
The report states that the police followed up on the information, which included a dash camera recording. Two police constables were positively identified as being part of the syndicate. The officers were summoned to the Kempton Park Police Station where more information about the hijackings emerged.
The report adds: It is alleged by the officers that they were recruited by the colonel [suspect] to stop the truck for them. A call was received by the handler [a crime intelligence police officer] that was monitoring the suspect at his residential place. Information was [then] shared with the team.
According to the report, the police went to an address in Olifantsfontein in Midrand. When they arrived, a black VW Golf 6 was stopped before leaving the house.
The police found a 9mm pistol with ammunition and two signal jammers in the boot of the vehicle. The suspect allegedly told them about the whereabouts of his co-accused, which led them to another house in in the same area. Another suspect was found sitting inside a car.
The suspect was interviewed and he mentioned the four police officers who were involved in the blue-light robberies. The suspects were then taken to the Kempton Park Police Station where they were detained after being charged with possession of ammunition, unlicensed firearms and hijacking.