Johannesburg -
Gauteng police believe they have smashed a hijacking syndicate ring that used to target rental cars in Soweto.
So brazen was the gang that on one occasion, they allegedly followed a man into his house and shot him dead after failing to hijack him in his driveway as the street was busy at the time.
Rental companies contacted by The Star would not divulge the number or cars hijacked by the gang.
However, police had 52 dockets and were able to recover 18 vehicles that the three companies - Avis, First Car Rental and Budget - allegedly lost to the syndicate.
The syndicate was bust after several months of investigations, during which police worked tirelessly to infiltrate it.
The alleged syndicate members will go on trial next month.
They are Sicelo Siwela, 40, Thabo Mayekiso, 39, Lawrence Zwane,36, Philani Thulani Skhosana,34, Bheki Nkabinde, 37, Musawenkosi Nene, 37, Thokozani Buthelezi, 23, Joseph Bongani Khoza, 37, and Ralph Bongani Mazibuko, 38.
At the time of the alleged hijackings, Skhosana, Mayekiso, Khoza and Siwela were out on parole for robberies and hijackings. Nkabinde was on parole for fraud.
National police spokesman Lieutenant-General Solomon Makgale said that when crime intelligence began to identify a common occurrence of the hijackings of rental vehicles in Soweto last year, they realised they might be dealing with a syndicate.
An application to the Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions for authorisation of undercover operations was made for police to infiltrate the syndicate by pretending to be buyers of hijacked vehicles.
A police officer close to the investigation said each gang consisted of a spotter, driver of a getaway car and the hijackers. The spotter would choose a route in Soweto and stand casually at an intersection, looking at all the passing cars.
When he spotted a rental car, he would immediately call his accomplices, who would be in a vehicle not far from where he was. He would describe the vehicle to them, including the registration number.
“The ones in the getaway car would follow it to see where it stops and that is why people were hijacked at their homes or when they had stopped at a house to pick someone up.
“The getaway car would stop around the corner and the hijackers would approach the motorist on foot.”
Once they got the car, they would either strip the vehicle or contact potential buyers.
Some cars that were worth about R170 000 were sold for as little as between R7 000 and R9 000, he said.
Budget and First Car Rental did not respond to questions sent to them.
Avis said they were working with the police in their investigations into the matter.
The Star