Police in Mpumalanga have recovered a white Toyota Fortuner SUV which was stolen by armed assailants during a house robbery incident.
The house robbery occurred at Sabie on Friday morning, at around 2am, according to Mpumalanga provincial police spokesperson, Colonel Donald Mdhluli.
“According to a report, members of a certain family were asleep in the house when they were awakened by a noise, and only to realise that there were armed suspects who had already entered the house somehow,” said Mdhluli.
“It is further said that these suspects became very aggressive while they held the victims at gunpoint. In the process, the suspects ordered the victims to remain calm and threatened to kill them if they did not comply.”
The assailants reportedly took the victims' belongings, then demanded car keys for the Toyota Fortuner in the yard.
After loading the stolen items into the vehicle, the family members were then forced into the vehicle with their one-year-old baby.
The robbers then drove away with the family.
“They later abandoned the victims in a secluded area on the R37 Sabie/Hendricksdal Road. The suspects fled with the stolen items, using the said vehicle while leaving the victims to fend for themselves,” said Mdhluli.
“Later, the victims somehow managed to walk until they reached a place where they got assistance whereby law enforcement agencies, including members of the SA National Defence Force, SA Police Service and tracking companies were alerted about the incident.”
The security and law enforcement agencies mobilised resources and tracked the stolen vehicle.
“At about 6.20am (on Friday) the team managed to recover the vehicle, which was found abandoned next to the borderline at Goba in the Nkomazi area. Be as it may, the investigation by the police continues with a hope to arrest the perpetrators and recover other properties that were robbed from the victims,” said Mdhluli.
Meanwhile, provincial commissioner of police in Mpumalanga, Lieutenant General Semakaleng Daphney Manamela has welcomed the recovery of the vehicle.
“As we indicated that we will not neglect our primary duties of ensuring safety for members of the public and their property. This incident has proven that indeed we are committed and true to our call,” said Manamela.
Last year, IOL reported that the regional court in Mokopane, in Limpopo, had convicted and sentenced a 35-year-old man who was arrested for possession of a stolen motor vehicle, a silver Toyota Fortuner, to six years in jail.
Brigadier Hlulani Mashaba, provincial police spokesperson in Limpopo, said Shane Mthombeni was sentenced to six years of direct imprisonment, without the option to pay a fine.
“The court heard that the South African citizen, Shane Mthombeni was intercepted by police while driving a silver motor vehicle, a Toyota Fortuner at Nyl Toll Plaza along the N1 Highway on October 30,” Mashaba said.
Members of the Limpopo police’s provincial tracking team, in conjunction with a private security company operationalised information which had been gathered, and arrested the driver, Mthombeni.
IOL