New tracker system will curb overborder vehicle smuggling Equipment to be installed at border posts will pick up vehicle signal A US developed satellite tracking system that is used to trace stolen vehicles is to be applied to South African border posts, and fitted to police vehicles.

Tracker spokesman Rowan Bouwer told FTW the system used a transponder hidden in a vehicle that would send a signal that could be picked up by a police vehicle or by equipment soon to be installed at border posts.

Tracker technology is being installed in the Gauteng highway patrol BMWs, one hundred of which were donated to the police by BMW six months ago.

He said the system differed from other available technology because it did not only provide tracing technology, it also provided the police with a means to do so. The system will make it possible to trace vehicles that are hijacked, and, should they elude the police, prevent them from being smuggled over the border.

Recent reports have said that empty trucks have also become a target, as they can be sold as far afield as Zambia.

The system is in widespread use in the USA and Britain. In one case study, car thefts in Boston dropped 42% while areas that did not use the system suffered an increase of 33% in vehicle thefts.