Johannesburg - Ten minutes. That’s all it took for four thieves to steal a car and partially strip it.
The Toyota Yaris was parked in Linden, Joburg, when four thieves saw it and hotwired it.
As soon as they got inside the car, they drove off and started stripping the dashboard while the vehicle was still moving.
They stopped in Denys Reitz Road in Roosevelt Park, where they continued taking the car apart.
Security guards from Suburban Crime Prevention (SCP) were conducting their normal patrols in the area when they spotted the Yaris.
“Our guys got out of their vehicles to see if there was something wrong with the vehicle and also whether they could offer any assistance. At the time, the car was still idling.
“That was when three suspects jumped out and ran to a waiting getaway silver Jetta.
It was then that we realised the car had been stolen,” said Piet Strydom of SCP.
He said they went around the area looking for the thieves, but couldn’t find them.
When they looked inside the Yaris, they found that the entire dashboard had been stripped.
The security company later discovered that only a few minutes had passed since the car had been stolen and their discovering it. The thieves had also broken the ignition and the doors’ locking mechanisms.
“They were probably looking for a tracking device,” Strydom surmised.
The Star
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