Six suspects were arrested after a Mfuleni hijacking and a separate stolen vehicle operation in Epping, with City traffic officers and SAPS recovering two vehicles in less than 13 hours.
City of Cape Town Traffic Service spokesperson Kevin Jacobs confirmed the arrests spanned Friday afternoon and the early hours of Saturday, 12 September 2026.
The most violent incident unfolded in Mfuleni, where a husband was stabbed during the hijacking of his wife’s vehicle. Traffic officers were alerted around 01:40 on Saturday to a possibly hijacked car at the R300 south and Van Riebeeck Road interchange.
“Two traffic vehicles joined the pursuit of the suspects who fled on foot – officers apprehended three suspects, and SAPS caught three more,” Jacobs said. “The owner later confirmed that the vehicle had been hijacked in Mfuleni and her husband stabbed during the incident.”
The injured man’s condition and identity have not been released by authorities. Police have also withheld the names and ages of the six suspects now in custody.
Earlier, on Friday around midday, a Highway Patrol Unit officer’s in-vehicle Automated Number Plate Recognition system flagged a white Ford Courier travelling northbound on Valhalla Drive. The alert indicated the vehicle had been reported stolen in Kleinvlei.
The officer made a U-turn, followed the bakkie, and conducted a traffic stop along Bofors Circle in Epping. The driver could not produce a valid driving licence, and a vehicle check confirmed it was the stolen Ford Courier.
That driver was handed over to Elsies River police, where a case for possession of suspected stolen property was opened. It remains unclear whether the original theft in Kleinvlei involved a hijacking or another crime, and SABC News initially reported the two incidents as a total of six arrests, though seven individuals appear to have been taken into custody across both operations.
These arrests follow another major hijacking-related operation in July 2024, when six suspects were apprehended in Philippi. City traffic officers have increasingly relied on Ghost Squad units fitted with ANPR cameras to intercept stolen vehicles across the Cape Town metro.
It is still not known when the six Mfuleni suspects will appear in court or whether the Epping driver faces additional charges. Cape Flats News will seek an update from SAPS Western Cape by midday Monday.