Ruthless hijackers shot dead a taxi driver on North Coast Road, dumped him on the side of the road and fled with the Toyota Quantum which was tracked and found stripped in a sugarcane field in Ndwedwe, on Monday night.
A team of private security members and law enforcement units responded to the scene of the fatal shooting and within an hour recovered the hijacked vehicle.
Police spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Nqobile Gwala, said: “On 26 September 2022 at 19:17, Greenwood Park police were called to a murder scene on North Coast Road. On arrival they were shown a 47-year-old man with gunshot wounds to his neck. He was declared dead on the scene.
It alleged by an eyewitness that the deceased was shot and pushed out of the taxi that he was driving by the suspects who fled. The vehicle was recovered at Ndwedwe area. Charges of murder and carjacking were opened for investigation.”
Marshall Security spokesperson, Tyron Powell, said: “At approximately 7:20pm, the Marshall Security Emergency Dispatch Centre was alerted to a possible pedestrian vehicle accident. Armed Response Officers and Special Operations Team members were immediately dispatched to the scene where initial reports indicated that a pedestrian had been struck by a Toyota Quantum taxi on North Coast Road in the Avoca area, and that the taxi had fled the scene.
Upon their arrival and investigation, our members established that it had not been a pedestrian vehicle accident but a hijacking, and that during the incident the taxi driver had been fatally shot and left on the side of the road. The scene was immediately cordoned off by our team to preserve the crime scene for evidence collection once the SAPS arrived. A spent 9mm cartridge was also found on the scene.”
According to Powell, members of Marshall Security Special Ops Team were activated by Tracker SA to assist with locating the hijacked taxi.
“Our members immediately responded to the last known location of the vehicle, a sugarcane field west of the Tongaat area, only to find various body panels dumped in the field. Car seats, door panels and headlights were also recovered, however, the rest of the taxi was still missing.
Determined to find the vehicle, our Special Ops Team together with the Tracker SA ground team proceeded to conduct a thorough search in the area and found what was left of the taxi about 400m away. Within an hour of the hijacking taking place to the vehicle being found, the suspects had completely stripped the taxi apart. A search was conducted for the wanted hijackers but they had fled without a trace,” Powell added.
He said the recovery scene was secured and handed over to the police for further investigation and processing.
“This is the third incident with a similar modus operandi where Toyota Quantum taxi drivers were hijacked on North Coast Road over the past two months,” Powell said.
