Truck hijackings are down
7.4% year on year according to
the latest SAPS crime statistics
but under-reporting and the
changing nature of serious
and violent crimes against
truckers means the number of
crimes reported may be only a
fraction of the actual incidents
impacting the industry.
Recently released SAPS
crime statistics released
last week showed a drop in
national truck hijackings
from 1279 in 2014/15 to 1184
in 2015/16 with double digit
decreases in
five provinces
including
Gauteng
(13.6%),
Freestate
(27%),
Limpopo
(44.4%),
Western Cape
(25.8%) and
North West
(6.7%). Truck
hijacking
incidents rose
in the Eastern Cape (58.8%),
Mpumalanga (25.2%) and
KwaZulu-Natal (25.7%) and
the Northern Cape had two
hijackings compared to zero
the previous year.
Road Freight Association
technical and operations
manager Gavin Kelly said the
drop in hijackings followed
18 months of hard work in
intensive joint operations
by the police and trucking
industry. However, he added
that incidents reported could
account for anything from
20% to 50% of
actual crimes
committed.
According
to the
statistics
Gauteng
recorded the
most incidents
(695),
followed by
Mpumalanga
(194),
KwaZulu-
Natal (71), Freestate (65),
Eastern Cape (54), Western
Cape (46), North West (42),
Limpopo (15) and Northern
Cape (2)
“They are still unacceptably
high in that it is not the type
of behaviour we would want
in our society. One truck
hijacking is one too many.
We want zero hijackings but
what is interesting is that the
modus operandi has changed.
They are no longer hitting the
trucks, they are hitting the
depots and the warehouses,”
he said.
Kelly said crimes were
under-reported because truck
operators did not always report
every hijacking incident.
“The reason for this is
because of the sensitivity
of information in terms of
exposing to the criminal
element (freight) movements
that are vulnerable and
because some operators first
do an internal investigation
and find that there is
complicity in internal
operations. In investigations
we have done there has
been up to 75% involvement
in-house where hijackers have
had information supplied
from a source that has been
attributed to someone inside
the business,” he said.
He added that another
reason for under reporting was
– to avoid insurance premium
hikes.
“Some operations, if they
are big enough, will absorb
the costs themselves so their
insurance premiums don’t
spiral out of control,” he said.
Kelly said the sector had
undertaken research of modus
operandi to detect trends to
ramp up the fight against
crime.
“We convinced the police to
reinstate the old anti-hijacking
task team that existed five
years ago and we have a special
investigative team set up that
monitors all cases reported.
We also have a toll free number
where truckers can phone
immediately if they have just
been hijacked, or if they are
stopped for checking by the
SAPS, they can check if it is
legitimate police and not the
false blue lights (gangs),” he said.
INSERT & CAPTION
Another reason for
under-reporting is
to avoid insurance
premium hikes.
– Gavin Kelly
