Hijackers are targeting Durban suburbs with at least 11 hijackings occurring last week.
|||Durban - Hijackers are targeting Durban suburbs again with at least 11 hijackings occurring between Monday and Saturday last week.
Areas hit include Morningside (Florida Road); Westville; Greenwood Park; Malvern; Montclair; Reservoir Hills; Mariannhill, Wenworth and elsewhere on the Bluff - but police warn that no area is safe.
Police spokesman Jay Naicker said the greater Durban area was seeing more cases reported than anywhere else in the province, with suspects moving from one suburb to another due to “increased police operations to target them”.
“We should never be complacent,” he said.
Although Naicker would not release recent statistics, a police source revealed that in the upper Highway area over the past seven weeks, 23 hijackings had occurred in Pinetown, which included Kloof, Wyebank, Ashley, Westmead and Cowies Hill.
“The maximum they had was three in one day and the longest period without a hijacking was three days. There was one hijacking a day (in this period) with two days seeing two hijackings.
“I don’t know if the community would think that is high or low (but) to police it is quite stable,” he said.
A vehicle tracking agent, who asked not to be named, said Pinetown, Westville, Sydenham and Overport were current hotspots for hijackings and vehicle thefts, while the Sydenham Community Policing Forum reported three hijackings the week before last.
Altech Netstar reported hijackings had increased in May and June and said its current hotspots included Chatsworth; Montclair; Umlazi; Wentworth; Isipingo; Phoenix; KwaMashu and Pinetown.
Matrix vehicle tracking said its hijacking and theft statistics in Durban had increased 21 percent year-on-year, with spokesman Grant Fraser predicting the number could spike again now that the third school term has begun.
“With the school holidays coming to an end, motorists will resume their daily routines. This habitual behaviour gives rise to predictable movements and increases the likelihood of criminals familiarising themselves with motorists’ actions,” he said.
On Wednesday, a 41-year-old woman was hijacked in Northdene as she was about to take her son to school at 7am. She was confronted by two men who demanded her keys and handbag. One of the men took her car while the other, who had been hiding in a bush, ran off.
“We appeal to the community to be especially vigilant in their driveways, parking lots, shopping centres and vehicle intersections as hijackers target vehicle-owners in these areas,” Naicker said.
On Thursday evening, a 63-year-old Durban man, who asked not to be named, was hijacked while dropping his three grandchildren off at a home in Florida Road in Morningside.
“I walked up the driveway and the kids ran past me to the gate. Two guys then pushed me up against the wall and asked for my cellphone and wallet. They took my car keys and Corsa bakkie.”
The man said that the three five-year-olds, who had witnessed the incident, ran inside the house and started crying.
Craig White, national recoveries manager for Bidtrack, said its statistics for the past year showed that hijackings in KZN had increased by 36 percent, and that tracking units were being removed at a much faster rate, with vehicle interiors completely stripped in less than 20 minutes.
“The targeted vehicles are still predominantly luxury SUVs, light delivery vehicles and smaller closed-back trucks.
“In KZN we also still have a lot of the smaller, popular hatchbacks high on the list,” he said.
The vehicle tracking agent was more specific, saying VW Polos, Toyota Corollas, Isuzu bakkies and Toyota Fortuners were still the most popular targets.
Matrix’s top five hijacked vehicle brands are Toyota, VW, Nissan, Hyundai and Fiat.
Naicker said the provincial police commissioner had formed a multi-disciplinary task team made up of members of the Flying Squad, the K9 unit, metro police, Tracker and the Department of Transport Special Operations to deal with hijackings.
“Since April, this team has recovered 58 vehicles, arrested 43 suspects and seized 11 firearms. This is over and above the daily operations conducted by police stations,” Naicker said.
The Mercury