ALI MPHAKI
FOUR brazen thugs attacked an Audi dealership in Boksburg on Saturday morning and drove off in a new Audi Q7.
But, unbeknown to the thugs, a joint Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) and SAPS operation was quickly put in place, and police were on their trail.
Late that afternoon the car was spotted in Turffontein, about 40km from Boksburg, resulting in a high-speed chase.
JMPD spokesman Wayne Minnaar said the four occupants of the Q7 jumped out of the vehicle, two getting into a Ford Fiesta and the other two into a VW Polo. The cars sped off in different directions.
Police were not put off, and cornered the Fiesta and arrested a suspect, who led them to a chop-shop-cum-warehouse in Stephen Road, Lakeview, next to Booysens.
The owner of the chop-shop is on the run. Police want to question him about the stolen parts found on his business premises.
Minnaar said police found three chassis of vehicles that were positively identified as stolen after they had entered the warehouse.
One of the chassis belongs to a VW Polo that was stolen in Pinetown, KwaZulu-Natal, last year.
Minnaar said a new Audi’s alloy wheels, folded number plates and a smashed Audi Q7 found in the warehouse confirmed the police’s suspicions that the chop-shop belonged to a hijacking syndicate.