- A mother and her son narrowly escaped a suspected hijacking attempt by a blue-light gang in Langeberg Road.
- The gang, posing as law enforcement, tried to stop her with flashing lights, but she trusted her instincts and drove to a public area.
- Police and CPF representatives are urging the public to report similar incidents to help track these criminals.
An apparent “blue-light gang” followed and attempted to pull a female motorist over and cut her off in Langeberg Road last Friday, 22 November.
These gangs, hijacking syndicates that brazenly employ such tactics as posing as law-enforcement officers to stop or wave unsuspecting motorists down with intent to kidnap, hijack or rob them, seem to be the latest scourge plaguing the roads.Last week, female motorist Charmaine Smith recounted the harrowing details of her experience to TygerBurger.
She was travelling along Legato Road towards Brackenfell Boulevard, with her young son in the car, when a double-cab bakkie with three males in it randomly appeared from Verdi Boulevard and started following her, a blue light flashing on the dashboard. From behind they started flashing their lights and waving her down. This occurred around 20:30, and for the next couple of minutes a terrified Smith had to think on her feet.
“The car was unmarked, and my first thought was that it was a ghost squad, but then I noted the car did not have a government numberplate. There was also no siren, and no other cars were being pulled off. I had a gut feeling that something was not right and started speeding up.”
Frightening
Smith turned right into Brackenfell Boulevard, and as she exited Pinehurst Circle to the right the men attempted to cut her off the road from the left.
“It was frightening, my son was in the car and there was no chance in hell that I was going to stop. I put my foot down, turned into Langeberg towards Okavango Crossing, but they too sped-up and tried to block me from the left. I managed to escape them and turned right and into the shopping centre where there were people. As I turned into the centre I saw them speed away towards Okavango Road.
”Distressed but relieved, Smith was unable to take the registration number of the vehicle down.Having caught a look at them, Smith said she suspected the men were foreign nationals because their skin tones were darker. In response to the incident, Kraaifontein police spokesperson WO Louise Strydom said the police were not aware of any blue-light gang activity in recent months, but urged the public always to report this to the police.
“If such incidents go unreported the police cannot record crime trends in a specific area,” she said. “However, if reported, police can also trace the vehicle on the City’s or other security cameras.”
Strydom warns motorists who suspect they are being pursued and flagged down by a blue-light gang to heed their instincts.
“Listen to your gut feeling and drive to the nearest police station, if you can, or to a public place where you see people.”CPF sub-district chair for the Tygerberg region Rob Bisset expressed his shock over the incident.“This is something to be concerned about,” he declared. “I’m going to put it out to the main board of the Tygerberg cluster CPF, to find out what is going on because we don’t want these (blue light gangs) in Cape Town.”
He too urged members of the public to report similar incidents to the CPF and try to get footage of such vehicles if they can.
