South Africa: Commissioner Riah Phiyega On Fight Against Hijacking of Cigarette Trucks

Source from:  South African Government 07/03/2015

The National Commissioner of the South African Police Service, General Riah Phiyega, has approved the establishment of an intelligence-driven, undercover operation to intensify the fight against the hijacking of cigarette trucks in Gauteng and other affected provinces.

A multi-disciplinary operational approach to address the threat of armed robberies of vehicles transporting cigarettes, as well as robberies at depots, has led to the arrest of many suspects nationally and the recovery of stolen/robbed property.

Intelligence collected by all stakeholders (police, sources, British American Tobacco and security companies) was utilised to provide early warning in support of pro-active interventions. It was also utilised to provide tactical and operational products. A Task Team was established, consisting of investigators and intelligence operatives, within the Gauteng area.

To support this, a national undercover intelligence driven operation was registered to address the threat. The strategy within the multi-disciplinary approach has three phases namely:

Short term:

Ongoing tactical intelligence-led disruptive operations targeting station and cluster level stubborn crime threats and wanted suspects.

Medium term:

Addressing high flyers, repeat offenders, cluster level criminal networks and organised criminal groups.

Long term:

Addressing national, trans-national organised criminal syndicates. Enditem