Riot Hlatshwayo

Riot Hlatshwayo

A man was hijacked by the notorious Blue Lamp gang in Mpumalanga.

Two suspects dressed in police uniforms and driving a marked police vehicle hijacked John Khanye, 51, on the Devon Road in Balfour on Monday night.

Driving a white Opel Astra they signaled for the victim to stop.

Two men stepped out of the car and accused Khanye of driving recklessly. They pointed firearms at him and kidnapped him.

Mpumalanga police spokesman Superintendent Malcolm Mokomeni said yesterday: "It seems that members of the gang remained in their car because when the two drove off in the victim's car the other car followed."

Mokomeni said the hijackers drove Khanye to a mielie field, tied him up and drove away in his bakkie.

He said Khanye managed to untie himself.

"He did not know where he was but spotted a group of workers on a farm and told them what had happened.

"They told him that the nearest town with a police station was Nelspruit," Mokomeni said.

Khanye reached the police station in Nelspruit on Tuesday at about 9.30am. No arrests had yet been made by yesterday afternoon.

Khanye said his vehicle was a white Toyota Hi Lux with the registration number DNG 626 MP.

A group of robbers, pretending to be police officers and using the same modus operandi, used to terrorise Mpumalanga residents.

But it has been months since this type of crime had been reported in the province.

Meanwhile, in another incident in the province, a man who had gone to the Hazyview First National Bank to deposit money was approached by a man who claimed to be a policeman.

The bogus cop had a police appointment card and ordered the man to accompany him out of the bank.

Mokomeni said the victim went with the bogus cop, who threatened to kill him if he did not hand over the money.

Mokomeni said: "The victim was robbed of the R6933 he had intended to deposit.

"To make matters worse, the suspect pointed a firearm at the man and threatened to blow his brains out if he tried anything," Mokomeni said.