Delivery vehicles that supply supermarkets and shops in Nyanga are always a target at a bridge near Ramaphosa squatter camp in Philippi.
Residents in the area said they have lost count of vehicles that are robbed in the area on daily basis.
“There is a group of boys that have terrorised drivers here especially delivery vans.
They work as a syndicate, they see the truck while it is still at the robots.
One of their partners with a car will drive slowly in front of the truck. When the driver gets to the bridge he blocks the truck and his crew will come out with guns and rob truck,” said a resident in the area who did not want to be named.
Today Law Enforcement officials from the City of Cape Town were at the bridge trying to get rid of the gang.
On Thursday, Sunteam saw a delivery truck which has its back doors open with cop vans around it. Residents said the driver had been robbed by the thugs that sped off after taking some of the belongings.
“If they use a car the group splits, some will speed off in the shacks while others disappear in between shacks,” said another resident.
Residents said sometimes the thugs could stand on the road with firearms forcing vehicles to stop
Nyanga SAPS station commander Brigadier Vuyisile Ncatha confirmed that the bridge is one of carjacking hotspot.
“That place has recently been made a hotspot by a group of six to nine boys who come out of the blue to block truck drivers and vehicles and rob them. They hide under the bridge and when they see that they are no police, they come out and stop cars and rob them,” said Ncatha.
He added that the bridge is not the only hotspot as carjacking but Philippi Brown’s Farm as a metred taxi drivers are hijacked every day.
Ncatha said as cops, and they are doing everything to fight the crime and their recovery rate for hijacked cars is at 73 per cent.
