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Four in
flying-squad car accused of robbery
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FOUR men, ostensibly driving a marked police car linked to the
Krugersdorp Flying Squad, have allegedly robbed a Joburg businessman of R350
000.
The man, an immigrant who did not want to be named, was on his way to buy goods in Fordsburg yesterday morning when the car came up behind him. The men in it indicated for him to pull over. The businessman’s attorney, Saleem Ebrahim, said the man was on the corner of Clare and Nursery streets in Fordsburg when the men approached him in a Golf GTI. Four armed men dressed as police officers approached the man’s car and searched it. They found R350 000 in cash and took it. They told the businessman he was under arrest and forced him into their vehicle, Ebrahim said. The men drove around with the man for a short while. They allegedly assaulted him by slapping and pushing him around until they stopped the car a few kilometres away in Mayfair West and told him to get out. The businessman said he felt the robbers were waiting in ambush for him, as he often drove through the area to conduct business. Ebrahim said they had the licence plate number of the vehicle, which was linked to the Krugersdorp Flying Squad. They also had CCTV footage of the robbery. A case was opened at Johannesburg Central police station but is being overseen by the provincial police as the same car is apparently being investigated for a similar incident in Pretoria. Police spokesman LieutenantColonel Lungelo Dlamini said they were investigating a charge of theft by four men alleged to be members of the Krugersdorp Flying Squad. The vehicle’s registration number was that of a Pretoria police vehicle that wasn’t (officially) used yesterday, he said. Record of terror attacks on motorists THERE have been numerous robberies and hijackings by criminals dressed as police officers and driving vehicles with blue lights. Here are a few cases which took place in the past few years: • Last June , police arrested six men linked to blue-light robberies. This gang had been terrorising motorists across Gauteng, pulling them off the road, then hijacking them. Gauteng police spokeswoman Captain Pinky Tsinyane said the gang were found in possession of a blue light, a siren, a crowbar and unlicensed R5 assault rifles. • In December, two men linked to a blue-light gang were arrested following a shootout with police and Hawks officers. Police were told a robbery was about to take place in Edenvale. They chased two vehicles, and a shootout erupted. Police managed to cut one vehicle off and found an AK-47, live rounds and additional number plates. • In August, a blue-light gang member was caught by the man he was trying to hijack on the N3 highway. Bedfordview police said four men stopped a man travelling with his family. The men drove a car with blue lights. As they were searching the vehicle, the driver grabbed one of the men, who was arrested. The others fled. • In 2010, Mpumalanga’s MEC for human settlements, Madala Masuku, and two of his bodyguards were shot at, then robbed by men driving in a car with a flashing blue light. The men took six cellphones, a bodyguard’s firearm and the car keys. •In 2010, a Joburg businessman, Peter Granat, was shot dead in Parkwood. Granat was killed by a gang using fake blue lights. His body was found next to his Toyota Land Cruiser. – By Angelique Serrao - angelique.serrao@inl.co.za The Star 03/06/13 Early Edition |
Sunday, July 5, 2015
Crimes of the South African Police Service
