A man from Durban is said to have paid R20,000 to hijackers to save his life.
Marshall Security said on Wednesday that the man had been taken hostage over the weekend, Times Live reports.
The company said, “On Saturday night around 8:30 p.m., members of our special operations team were called in to help Cartrack find a white Golf 7 that had been stolen in the Umbilo area.”
The security company could not say right away if the matter had been reported to the police or how the victim got to the money.
Marshall Security also helped Cartrack look for a different car.
Hijackers abandoned the car
“Our team responded right away, and nine minutes after being called, our special ops team, the SA Police Service KwaMashu trio crimes unit, and Cartrack’s ground team found the car abandoned in an informal settlement in KwaMashu A-section and took it back.
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The car was given back to its owner, who did not want to file a police report.
Hijacking is a serious problem
Vehicle hijacking is a serious crime problem in South Africa. According to the latest available crime statistics released by the South African Police Service (SAPS) for the period of April 2020 to March 2021, there were 16,787 reported cases of carjacking in South Africa.
This represents a slight decrease in the number of carjacking cases compared to the previous year, but it is still a significant number. Carjacking is a violent crime in which hijackers use force, intimidation, or violence to steal a vehicle, and it can be a traumatic experience for the victims. Lately, criminals have also resorted to emptying out the bank accounts of their hijack victims as well.
