A photograph stored on a hijacker’s cellphone has led to his arrest, Ekurhuleni metro police said on Monday.
Metro spokesperson Vusi Mabanga said a man — whose name he could not reveal — was robbed of his Volkswagen Golf at gunpoint in Reiger Park on the East Rand on Friday.
On Saturday, the victim and his friend borrowed a minibus taxi and searched for the stolen vehicle.
They spotted the Golf — with three men in it — at Reiger Park in Boksburg and stopped it. The men in the Golf opened fire, and the hijack victim and his friend shot back, said Mabanga.
One of the three suspects was caught and taken into the minibus, but he managed to escape through the window, dropping the phone that had his picture on it.
The Golf was recovered, said Mabanga.
”When metro police arrived on the scene they took the camera phone, which had his picture.
”With the help of the pictures from his cellphone, on Sunday the officers spotted the suspect at the corner of Ndabezitha and Xosa streets in Tsakane,” Mabanga said.
He was arrested, along with the other suspect who was identified by the hijack victim. A firearm that had been stolen from a police officer in Brakpan was recovered from one suspect. The third suspect is still on the run.
The two arrested are expected to appear in the Brakpan Magistrate’s Court on Monday, said Mabanga. — Sapa