Durban - Armed robbers gave away 240 loaves of bread after hijacking a bread delivery vehicle in Mawothi, west of Phoenix, on Friday morning.
They forced the driver of a Hyundai H100 bakkie to unload the bread and give the loaves to passing pedestrians after they failed to open the vehicle’s safe, telling locals that Christmas had come early.
Prem Balram of Reaction Unit SA said that the owner of the bread distribution company contacted them at 8.44am requesting assistance to locate his driver who had been hijacked with the bakkie. “Tracker confirmed that signals from the vehicle were emitting in Mawothi. Reaction Officers converged on the area and recovered the vehicle with the South African Police Service. The driver was not injured,” he said.
Balram said that while delivering bread in the area, a white Toyota Avanza drove up to the vehicle and the robbers threatened the driver and his assistant. “One person produced a firearm and forced the driver to get into the vehicle and drive to another location. The assistant managed to flee and contacted his employer,” said Balram.
When the suspects were unable to open the safe in the back of the bakkie, they then forced the driver to offload 24 bread crates packed with 240 loaves of bread. “The robbers distributed the bread to pedestrians and residents informing them that Christmas had come early. They then drove off in the Toyota Avanza,” he said.
Comment from the SAPS was not forthcoming by the time of going to print.
The Independent on Saturday