Suspects arrested after using stolen Nelson Mandela Bay municipal bakkie for business robbery

Daily Maverick

3 days ago

A stolen municipal bakkie – with its signage and number plates removed – was recovered by Atlas Security in Walmer on Monday afternoon after it was flagged on its system as the getaway vehicle in a business robbery.
On Saturday morning in Nelson Mandela Bay, fast-moving Atlas Security vehicles managed to catch suspects who had allegedly robbed a business using a stolen and disguised municipal vehicle.
Atlas Security's Wayne Hart said early on Saturday morning that its CCTV network picked up a white Nissan Navara sought in connection with a business robbery.
'The Rapid Intervention Unit (RIU) team first spotted the vehicle heading into Walmer location with five occupants. Given the circumstances, our RIU and area vehicles monitored the movement, and continued visible patrols in Walmer and surrounding areas.
'A bit later, another alert came through. This time, the vehicle was picked up in Mangold Park through Atlas Security's CCTV infrastructure,' Hart said.
He said two vehicles were stationed in 8th Avenue, Walmer. One vehicle covered Walmer Boulevard and two were assigned to Targetkloof.
'The Nissan Navara was located and quickly surrounded at the corner of 8th Avenue and Villiers Road in Walmer. At the scene, two suspects were found in the vehicle. Another was located nearby with his family. Our officers escorted the suspects and the vehicle to Walmer Police Station, where a closer inspection confirmed it was a stolen municipal vehicle,' Hart said.
'The suspects had tried to cover up its identity by painting over the official unit numbers and municipal markings with white house paint, and fitting false number plates,' he added.
The theft of fleet vehicles belonging to municipalities and the provincial Department of Transport has notably increased since the beginning of the year.
Last Thursday, a vehicle belonging to the road construction team of the Eastern Cape Department of Transport was hijacked at gunpoint and its driver held hostage at Askeaton just outside Cofimvaba, where roadworks are in progress. Department spokesperson Unathi Binqose said a group of armed men in a VW Polo forcefully stopped the foreman who was driving the double-cab bakkie.
'They demanded keys to the bakkie, put him in the backseat and drove with him for some distance before releasing him. He managed to contact the office and the police to report the incident. The vehicle tracker was immediately activated and, hours later, the bakkie was found abandoned in a forest at a village in Cofimvaba,' Binqose said. He added that the thieves had already stripped the vehicle of parts.
This was the fifth attack on government vehicles since June.
In the other cases, yellow fleet vehicles, used in road construction, were hijacked by armed men at several sites.
One of the attacks occurred on the R61, where a team of road workers had to run for their lives as gunshots were fired in the crane truck they were travelling in.
The team was fixing potholes between Engcobo and Dutywa, and was on their way to Komani when the incident happened.
Binqose said the team had to abandon the truck and run into a nearby village, where they were able to call the police for assistance.
'The truck was still there as a bullet damaged one of its engine components. It was towed to the Cofimvaba Police Station,' he added.
Previously, armed men also stole a truck and took its wheels, and then stole the department's bakkie as a getaway vehicle.
In June, a tipper truck was stolen and later recovered in Elliotdale. DM