Four arrested in taxi commuter robbery
The Boksburg North police arrested four men believed to be involved in a robbery that took place in a minibus taxi in the Boksburg North area on December 6.
Police spokesperson Capt Juanita Coetzer said the complainant told the police that he got into a taxi in Dunswart and noticed four other male passengers on board.
When it was time to pay he took out R20 and paid, but the passenger in the front seat of the kombi noticed that the victim had a R50 note and he demanded it.
All of a sudden another man at the back grabbed him and took the victim’s money and cellphone at knifepoint, before forcing him out of the taxi.
The victim opened a case of robbery. Detectives later arrested two of the suspects, and following further investigation the two other accomplices were also arrested. Their ages range between 19 and 28 years.
- Similar taxi robbery
This incident came less than a week after another very similar taxi robbery happened near the intersection of Railway Street and Trichardts Road.
The Advertiser reported that a Boksburg North man was stabbed and robbed of R5 000 in a taxi along Trichardts Road on November 30.
The man was waiting for a taxi on the corner of Trichardts Road and Leeuwpoort Street before he was ambushed in the taxi.
The victim, who requested to remain anonymous, said a taxi arrived and he got into it, noticing four other male passengers on board.
Near the intersection of Railway Street and Trichardts Road, two male passengers grabbed him, pulled out a knife and demanded his belongings.
“I screamed for help but the driver looked at me and shouted ‘hey keep quiet!’,” said the victim.
Holding the knife to his neck, the criminals took the victim’s wallet containing bank cards and his R5 000 salary which he had withdrawn from the bank earlier.
“I pleaded with them not to kill me, but they stabbed me in the head and repeatedly assaulted me before pushing me out of the moving taxi – leaving me in the road badly injured,” said the victim.
The profusely bleeding victim says he then flagged down a passing EMPD vehicle and the officers took him to Tambo Memorial Hospital where he was treated.
This robbery follows others in which commuters, women in particular, have been attacked in a taxi in and around Boksburg.
