July, 2009
A Johannesburg motorist is today (July 2, 2009) taking delivery of his rare Sports Utility Vehicle, an Audi Q5, a day late after it was hijacked by three men yesterday afternoon only hours before he was due to pick it up at an East Rand dealership.
The vehicle was being filled up with petrol at a service station in Boksburg on the corner of Rietfontein and Rondebult road when an employee of the dealership was hijacked allegedly by two armed men. He was instructed to get out the car upon which they sped away in the vehicle. A third man is reported to have followed in another vehicle. The man then immediately contacted the dealership to report the incident.
“Fortunately, the vehicle had already been fitted with a Tracker. We activated the unit and our own recovery teams as well as members of the SAPS East Rand Flying Squad and other police units immediately picked up the signal. The vehicle was recovered on the N3 highway traveling north towards the London Road off ramp in less than 15 minutes. One suspect was arrested,” says Tracker’s Communications Manager, Gareth Crocker.
Police are investigating and hope to make more arrests soon.
“Shortly after the hijacking, the customer was contacted by the dealership with the bad news. But his dismay soon turned to joy when, just moments later, we called to give him the good news that his vehicle had already been recovered and that an arrest had been made.”
The vehicle was detained for a few hours to allow a forensics team to gather evidence.
“The client commented that he was completely taken aback by both news of the hijacking and the quick recovery that followed and wonders if vehicle criminals are now targeting brand new vehicles that may not yet have been fitted with a tracking device,” says Crocker.
Vehicle tracking industry continues to make significant inroads into vehicle crime
“We’re very pleased by the ongoing successes we are enjoying with our recoveries at the moment. Together with the invaluable support of the SAPS, Tracker currently makes approximately 100 arrests a month. In fact, in the Western Cape over the past year, we have been averaging one arrest for every 1.7 vehicles recovered which may well be a world leading mark for vehicle tracking. This is thanks to both our close working relationship with the SAPS as well as several new and covert measures we are employing. Tracker’s 45 000 recoveries have now led to more than 8000 arrests nationally,” says Crocker.
“It’s also worth noting that vehicle criminals are often involved in other forms of violent crime such as armed robberies, house attacks, cash-in-transit heists and even rapes and murders. So arresting perpetrators of vehicle crime is obviously of paramount importance to us.”
For more information, please contact Gareth Crocker, Communications Manager for Tracker on gcrocker@tracker.co.za, (011) 380 0300 or 082 78 78 757.