Pretoria – South African 100m record-holder Simon Magakwe fell victim to an elaborate car-jacking scheme in Pretoria over the weekend, the sprinter said on Monday.
“I was hanging out with my friend in Hatfield on Saturday. When we went to the car, two ladies and a man approached us asking for a lift to Bosman station,” Magakwe told Sapa.
“They offered us mint sweets and we both ate them, unaware it was a drug. We both became sleepy and next thing we passed out.”
Magakwe said he and his friend woke up a few hours later on the side of the road, in an unfamiliar part of the city, to find that his car and all their belongings had vanished.
“We were both disorientated and when we woke up we didn't know what had happened but some way, somehow, we managed to get to the police station in Sunnyside,” he said.
A docket was opened and the stolen white Audi A3 was last spotted by a tracking company in Mabopane, he said.
“The tracker guys told us the thieves took out the car battery which messed up the signal and made the car untraceable after that.”
The 9.98sec 100m specialist had returned to the country on Thursday after spending three months overseas competing in various international athletics competitions, including the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, in July.
Magakwe was nominated for the ANN7 Sports Person of the Year award alongside eventual winner cricketer Hashim Amla, but was unable to attend the ceremony on Saturday evening after the incident. – Sapa