Johannesburg – A SAPS officer was arrested over the weekend for a botched hijacking in Soweto. Together with a number of other suspects they had tried to hijack a taxi but the taxi driver shot him.

“Initially, he claimed that he had been shot by suspects who attempted to hijack him. At a later stage, he was identified at the hospital as one of the suspects who had hijacked a Toyota minibus in Mamelodi. He was later arrested at the Pholosong Hospital where he had [admitted] himself for treatment,” police spokesperson Colonel Lungelo Dlamini said.

Dlamini said the constable was expected to also face a perjury charge for reporting the fake hijacking.

He was off duty at the time of the incident.

Meanwhile, in Brakpan, three people were arrested for allegedly using a vehicle, which had been fitted with blue lights, to hijack a truck near Diepkloof, Soweto.

Dlamini said the driver was blindfolded and taken to a warehouse in Brakpan.

“A swift intervention by a police task team led to the arrest of the suspects before goods worth more than R300 000 were offloaded from the truck. Three suspects were arrested on the scene, while two others escaped. Police are looking for them,” he said.

Gauteng police commissioner Lieutenant General Elias Mawela, said: “No one [will] escape the long arm of the law and those who are found on the wrong side, including our own members, are likely to face the full might of the law.

He said police were ready for the festive season “to make it difficult for the criminals who think they will harass members of the community and make money. A tide is surely turning against them as I am deploying every available member including the reservists throughout the festive season.”