Angella Johnson
POLICE dented the operation of a truck hijacking syndicate this week when they raided a warehouse in one of Johannesburg’s industrial sectors and confiscated R200 000 worth of goods which had been stolen from a lorry hijacked in Gauteng.
In one of their quickest hits this year, officers from the anti-hijacking unit, acting on a tip-off, entered the premises of Africa Sale in Piet Road, Germiston, early on Monday morning and discovered cases of John West tinned sardines hidden at the rear of a warehouse.
The load had been snatched last Thursday morning when the truck driver was held up by an armed gang in Wadeville. The driver was taken to an area near Vosloorus, tied up and and held in the garage of a house until 3pm the next day.
“They released him near Dawn Park [east of Johannesburg] and he called his employer in Durban, who contacted us,” said Inspector Eben Theron, who believes the bust has closed a major outlet for distributing hijacked products.
But he admits his men might not have recovered the goods but for an informer calling early on Monday morning to say where they had been taken. “When we arrived at the site half the stuff had already been shipped out to the Swiss Supermarket in Benoni, so we had to go and get it first,” explained Theron .
The Indian supermarket owner, who denied knowledge of the illegal status of the goods, had taken them on the understanding that he would pay the warehouse owner after they had been sold. He was not arrested.
Three men at the warehouse, where the other half of the 22-ton load was packed into a container lorry hired by the insurers, were taken into custody and charged with handling stolen property. They told police the goods had been legitimately purchased, but were unable to produce a receipt.
Workers at a nearby unit said they saw the load being taken off the truck at “tremendous speed” on Friday afternoon. “They also offloaded some Hunters Gold [cider] at about the same time, but it didn’t seem strange because they have things coming in all the time,” said a man who did not want to be named.
Penny Naidoo, whose company, Virannas, was shipping the sardines from Durban to Johannesburg, said the container lorry worth R500 000 was still missing. “We have been hijacked on two other occasions and this is the first time we’ve managed to recover the cargo and only once have we got the vehicle back, so hopefully our luck will continue.”
Johan Oberholzer, of the Stellenbosch Farmer’s Winery, was having no such luck. He arrived at the scene hoping to find 3 400 cases of Hunters Gold which had been stolen during another hijacking. But they had apparently been dispersed last Saturday.
Looking glum and resigned, he instructed his men to load the empty palettes on to a van. “This kind of thing is happening every day in the liquor trade, so we’re pretty used to it. The goods are sold cheaply on the black market, but in the long run we all pay for the cost through higher insurance premiums,” he said.
Oberholzer argued that hijacking was also disruptive because it led to stock shortages which allow the opposition to move into the gap created on the market.
Police figures show that truck hijacking is up from 419 in the first six months of 1995 to 751 in the corresponding period this year – at least 70% of them in the Gauteng area. Tuesday and Wednesday are the worst days, and 8am to 12 noon are the most popular hijacking hours.
Alcohol, groceries and electrical appliances were the most common goods stolen, but chemicals, sand and on one occasion a load of coffins, have been taken.
Jan Combrinck, a South African Police Service representative, said firearms were used in 90% of the cases but violence was usually minimal.