RFA intervention targets truckjackers

A scheme devised by the

Road Freight Association

(RFA) could play a role in

curbing the drastic rise in

truck hijackings, according

to Gavin Kelly, the RFA’s

technical and operations

manager.

The latest SA Police Service

(SAPS) statistics for the

period 2013/14 to 2014/15

showed that truckjacking had

increased from 991 to 1 279

incidents – a worrying 29.1%

growth. This, according to

the police, strongly suggested

that organised crime was on

the rise.

And, according to Koos

Botha of Combined Private

Investigations (CPI), the

crime statistics revealed

by the police minister

Nathi Nhleko and police

commissioner

General

Riah Phiyega

showed

that ‘crime

alley’ – the

N3 between

Alberton and

Heidelberg

– was still a

favourite target area for the

truck thieves. Indeed, said

Botha, Heidelberg was a hot

spot – with an increase in

truckjackings of 147.5%.

The RFA scheme was

originally triggered by a

similar drastic surge in fuel

truck hijacking between

2013 and 2014. “It just got

completely out of hand,”

said Kelly, “and we therefore

set up a number of task

teams. These involved all

the stakeholders in the fuel

transport sector – including

representatives from the

petroleum production

industry and the distributors,

along with the SAPS.”

And this, he added, was a

successful operation, with a

number of crime syndicates

being bust.

A big worry for the RFA

was that, along with this

latest massive

jump in

truckjacking

numbers,

there was also

a growing

incidence of

violence. It

has now got

to the stage,

according to Kelly, where

truckjackings are increasingly

conducted by heavily armed

gangs.

“So we put further

structures into place,” Kelly

said, “and a system for users

to be able to access a hijacking

hot-line.”

He pointed out that

tracking companies had also

all redesigned their systems

in an attempt to overcome the

problem of the crooks using

jamming systems to block the

flow of tracking information.

And this RFA scheme is a

very similar ‘community-based’

system to that devised in 1996

by Isobel Louw, then MD of

Roadwing, and the driving

force behind the public/private

sector anti-crime drive in the

City Deep and Kaserne areas of

Johannesburg.

It involved SAPS and the

combined commitment of

the stakeholders – Transnet,

Roadwing, Safmarine, MSC

and SACD – in the fight

against crime.

And that proved very

successful, cutting back

the truck crime in that

area successively over the

forthcoming years.

INSERT

Users are able to

access a hijacking

hot-line.