Sojwe police are on the hunt for a gang of armed robbers who mugged and tied up a 50-year-old man at Kokonje before vanishing with his Land Cruiser last Friday night.
The violent armed men are said to have struck at around 10pm when the Molepolole native was with his elder brother and a herdboy.
The suspects had allegedly packed their Silver Runnex vehicle in a passage next to a neighbouring farm before confronting and attacking the three men.
Sojwe police Station Commander, Superintendent Kitsiso Lemogang said the exact number of the suspects is not known, but that about three of them confronted and attacked the victims at the farm.
“The victim was sitting inside his vehicle while his elder brother- aged 53 and the herdboy, were sleeping in two separate houses. The suspects arrived, armed with a pick-axe and knife which they placed on his neck and forced him out of the vehicle before tying up his hands. They then disconnected the trailer and took eight jerry cans. After that they proceeded to the herdboy and hit him on the head with the pick axe,” explained Superintendent Lemogang.
After knocking the herdboy unconscious, the robbers are said to have entered another house where the elder brother was sleeping and asked him where they kept the diesel, when he told them that there was no diesel they stabbed him with a knife on the arm.
Upon realising that the Land Cruiser was low on fuel they took it together with the owner to look for the diesel.
They later fuelled the cruiser along the way between Hatsalatladi and Mahetlwe on the gravel road before dumping the owner in the bush.
“They had taken his phones, but he managed to untie himself and went to the nearby farm to borrow a phone and called the police who later went to collect him,” revealed the police officer.
The police boss advised motorists to be vigilant and secure their vehicles with tracking devises as the trend now indicates that robbers are targeting off-road Toyota Land Cruiser and GD6 vehicles.
It is the second theft of a motor vehicle incident in the Sojwe area following another where armed robbers stole a GD6 from Lephepe Land Board last year November which has still not been recovered.