Community member helps track hijacked cop

Cape Town - 090127 - At Khayelitsha's Nonceba Hall on National Police Day there was a meeting to help organize how local organizations could assist the police in dealing with community issues. Photo by Skyler Reid.

Cape Town - 090127 - At Khayelitsha's Nonceba Hall on National Police Day there was a meeting to help organize how local organizations could assist the police in dealing with community issues. Photo by Skyler Reid.

Published May 25, 2016

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Durban - A woman who responded to a crime alert message on her phone, may have saved the life of an off-duty policeman who was hijacked outside his Verulam home on Wednesday morning.

The policeman, a detective based at Verulam police station, had been reversing his Golf 6 out of his driveway to allow his father to reverse his car out of the driveway when hijackers pounced on him.

His mother who was watching from inside the house suddenly saw him being bundled into the back seat of the car and she began screaming hysterically. Her daughter, hearing her mother's screams, then called the police and Prem Balram of private security company Reaction Unit South Africa.

“The details of the car were circulated on WhatsApp and social media sites immediately. Within minutes social media sites were abuzz. A woman driving to work phoned and informed me that the Golf had sped past her in Umdloti heading towards Durban,” Balram said.

In the interim, police and a private car tracking firm, Netstar, began searching for the car through tracking signals.

Balram said the hijackers stripped the interior of the car searching for the tracker. They abandoned the car in N-Section, uMlazi, after leaving the policeman in Isipingo.

“The policeman was unarmed and not hurt. This was a random hijacking. They take the victim along to delay the tracking device from being activated by the victim. In recent weeks we found several hijack victims in Isipingo while responding to hijackings in Verulam.

Police spokesman, Major Thulani Zwane, confirmed a policeman had been hijacked. “The suspects drove away with him and he was later dropped off in Isipingo. The vehicle was found abandoned in uMlazi. No arrests were made. Police are investigating,” Zwane said.

Daily News

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