Criminal syndicates are not only recruiting police officers into their ranks or impersonating them, but going the whole hog by outfitting their vehicles in police livery in order to lure unsuspecting victims.
In several cases this week, criminals used cars dressed up as police vehicles to commit various crimes.
Athlone police opened a case of hijacking after a truck was flagged down by marked police Nissan double cab in Athlone.
Police said the driver was dropped off unharmed in Muizenberg and the suspects got away with cigarettes worth R3million.
Flying squad members who responded to the incident said: “The marked police cab with cloned number plates had not been found and is still out there. We are not sure if the suspects were real or bogus cops.”
On Monday, flying squad members responded to a call about a car that veered off the road.
“Upon arriving on the scene, members of the dog unit searched the swamp area and arrested a suspect with an Uzi machine gun in his possession.While searching the crashed vehicle, we found a blue police light inside. Two suspect got away and it appeared that the suspects were on their way to carry out a robbery,” said the flying squad.
Institute for Security Studies (ISS) researcher, Johan Burger said bogus police posed a real threat and the only way to stay out of their reach was for motorists to go to a mall or a garage.