11 Suspected Stolen Vehicles Recovered


The Gauteng police are on a relentless effort to put a stop to crimes involving stolen and hijacked vehicles in the Tshwane metro.

This comes as a Pakistani national, the alleged receiver and his employer, a 47-year old Zimbabwean national were arrested and would appear before the Pretoria North magistrate’s court on Thursday, on charges of possession of stolen and hijacked motor vehicles.

Gauteng provincial police spokesperson Brigadier Mathapelo Peters said efforts by the SAPS in Gauteng geared at disrupting the market for stolen and hijacked vehicles, had resulted in the recovery of 11 stolen vehicles after operations conducted in Pretoria North, Montana and Sinoville in Tshwane District.

She said the vehicles were recovered during a joint intelligence-led operation, which saw a multi-disciplinary team pounce on three addresses in different areas of Pretoria, where police received information about a suspected recipient of stolen vehicles on Tuesday.

“At the first address in Pretoria North, a makeshift park-and-sell facility, the team found and seized a Nissan NP200 reported stolen at Lyttelton SAPS in October this year. They also seized a BMW 5-series reported stolen in Soshanguve in November, and a Toyota Fortuner with a tampered vehicle identification number (VIN).”

Peters said four more vehicles were seized from the second address at the alleged receiver’s home in Montana.

“A Renault Sandero, an Audi A4, a VW Polo, and a Toyota Etios sought as per cases reported at Sunnyside police this month, Temba, Mamelodi in July 2017, and Brooklyn in November 2020, respectively.”

She said at the third premises, another makeshift park-and-sell facility on Sefako Makgatho Drive in Sinoville, police seized four more sought vehicles.

“A Nissan NP200 sought as per case reported at Rietgat SAPS earlier this month, a Hyundai H11 sought as per case reported at Krugersdorp in July 2020, a Renault Kwid reported stolen at Soshanguve in October 2020, and a Hyundai H100 with tampered vehicle identification were seized.”

She said this brought the total to 11.

Peters said while investigations were under way, the two suspects would further be subjected to determine whether they were legally in the country.

Gauteng police commissioner Lieutenant-General Elias Mawela has commended the collaboration by the Pretoria West vehicle crime unit, Pretoria K9-unit, Sinoville detectives, the DPCI, Gauteng traffic police and DataDot, Tracker Connect and the Insurance Crime Bureau.

“Our biggest successes this past year, in response to our concerted efforts to reduce the high volumes of hijackings in the province, have emanated from our strengthened partnership with other law enforcement agencies and private stakeholders.

“We will therefore continue on this trajectory in our strife to disrupt the market for stolen and hijacked vehicles that often come at the expense of the lives of innocent victims,” said Mawela.

He said this festive season, potential second-hand car buyers were cautioned to avoid what would seem to be unusually cheap prices from some dealerships.

Mawela urged them to rather shop or buy from established, reputable dealerships than themselves getting arrested for possession of stolen or hijacked vehicles.

“Such intelligence-led operations will continue alongside the safer festive season operations as police work hard to tighten the grip on crime.”


Source: https://rekordeast.co.za/36146...