Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1931 - 1954), Saturday 21 August 1954, page 1


ORGANISED LOOTING ALARMS TRUCK

COMPANIES

MELBOURNE, Aug. 20.

Organised gangs of hijackers have stolen thousands of pounds worth of goods in

"slash and grab" raids on interstate transports in the past fortnight. Losses have become so heavy that some transport drivers have armed them-selves with rifles and major companies are preparing to send out their own road patrols. The hijackers board slow moving transports from utility trucks on hills and "ride" the loads for several miles while they throw se-lected goods overboard. They have made the Hume Highway their main hunting ground. A special alert has been flashed to all patrols and police stations between Melbourne and Sydney. Police believe that the gangs have "spies" planted at some trans-port company depots to give them the "tip off"

when a valuable load is about to leave. The hijackers have per-fected such a skilful tech-nique in slashing the trans-port tarpaulins that many of the thefts have not been discovered until the drivers have reached their destina tions. Colliers Interstate Trans-port Ltd. and Rudders Ltd. have been among the hard-est hit companies. Colliers alone lost a £2,500 load from one Sydney-bound transport last Mon-day, and a second major theft was reported at Gun-dagai today. Rudders Ltd. have lost E1.000 worth of softgoods from two Melbourne-bound transports in the past fort-night. Detectives believe that the hijackers are working In teams of three men to a utility. The utility trails a trans-port until it slows down as it mounts a steep hill. A "jockey" mounts the utility's bonnet and leaps on to the top of the semi-trail-er's load. He slashes the

tarpaulin and throws out cartons of soft goods which are picked up by the other gang members. . Police believe that sev-eral former transport dri-vers are ring leaders. NSW police are preparing to keep a close watch on Jugiong Hill, near Can-berra, thought to be a pos-sible "ambush point" for the hijackers.