The Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police Department (EMPD) has recovered a white Toyota Hilux vehicle, after it was left abandoned in Putfontein.
Spokesperson for the EMPD, Lieutenant Colonel Kelebogile Thepa said the vehicle had been affixed with new number plates when it was found by police.
“Following a tip-off from a tracking company about a reported hijacked vehicle, the officers were led to Durant Street in the Putfontein area, where the vehicle was suspected to be parked,” said Thepa.
“The hijacked vehicle, a white Toyota Hilux light delivery vehicle was located abandoned in an open field and the registration number given by the tracking company did not correspond with the registration plates affixed on the vehicle,” she said.
“The officers thoroughly inspected the vehicle and discovered that the registration plates inserted on the vehicle were false, and that the vehicle was reported hijacked with a case number of Mohlakeng police station.”
In another incident earlier this month, police in Ekurhuleni recovered a white Toyota Hilux double cab vehicle which was hijacked from its owner. During the hijacking, the owner was kidnapped and later dumped along the N3 highway.
A tracking device on the Toyota Hilux led police to a house owned by a 60-year-old woman, who resides at the house, but she was not sure how the stolen vehicle landed in her yard.
At the time, Thepa said the vehicle was recovered in the KwaThema area.
“While performing their normal duties, officers received a tip-off from a vehicle tracking company regarding the location of a reported hijacked vehicle, a white Toyota Hilux bakkie,” Thepa said.
The information was followed up and the officers were led to a yard in KwaThema area, where a vehicle matching the description of the hijacked vehicle, was found.
“The owner of the house, an elderly female aged 60-years-old alleged that she assumes the vehicle might have been dropped by one of the grandchildren. The grandchildren were nowhere to be found,” she said.
The EMPD said the vehicle was hijacked from an “African male owner”, in the Tsakane area, and his cellphone was also stolen by the hijackers.
IOL