Durban - A Chatsworth resident is lucky to be alive after he was hijacked and kidnapped by armed gunmen before being dropped off in uMlazi on Monday.
This is the third incident reported by the Daily News in the last two weeks where the hijackers have taken their victims with them.
Colonel Thembeka Mbele, a KwaZulu Natal police spokesperson said the victim alleged that he was parking his vehicle at Panorama Road in Silverglen area when he was held up by three suspects.
"At gunpoint, the suspects forced him to drive his vehicle to an unknown location. Upon arrival, the suspects tried to remove the tracking device but failed. The suspects thereafter abandoned the vehicle before fleeing the scene on foot," Mbele said.
A case of car-jacking was opened at Bayview police station for investigation.
Chatsworth has been rocked by a recent spate of hijackings where the victims are taken with their car so that they are prevented from alerting their vehicle tracking company.
In August hijackers driving a car bearing eThekwini Municipality number plates robbed a Chatsworth family of two cars. Calvin Kelly Pillay and his wife, Ashona, were leaving for work. Ashona had their 3-year-old daughter in the back seat of her car.
Four men carrying rifles and handguns jumped out and forced Calvin and Ashona out of their cars. Ashona struggled with one of the hijackers as she tried to get her daughter out. The hijackers bundled Calvin into his car and drove off. The hijackers later abandoned the cars in Mobeni Heights. Calvin was shocked but unharmed.
In July Ravi Naidoo and his wife, Bhanu, both 60, were kidnapped by four men in a Polo who hijacked them of their Toyota Prado VX . The Silverglen couple were taken at gunpoint on a high-speed roller-coaster ride through uMlazi. They were found inside their car unharmed in uMlazi.