Inside job suspected in truck hijack

Two men brandishing axes and posing as logistics workers hijacked a cross-border truck in the New Territories yesterday, escaping with HK$15.5 million worth of computer hard disks.

But their getaway car wasn't big enough and they had to leave behind four pallets of goods worth another HK$2 million.

Detectives are investigating whether the robbery was an inside job. The men were apparently aware of the truck's route.

The 50-year-old driver had pulled over at a petrol station in Lok Ma Chau at about 7pm on Monday. The man, working for a local logistics company, was on his way from the mainland to Chek Lap Kok airport.

One of the hijackers got into the truck, but he was wearing one of the company's blue shirts, so the driver assumed that he was an employee. The man then asked the driver to go to another petrol station, police said.

When they got to the junction of San Tin Highway and Fairview Boulevard in Yuen Long, another man, also wearing one of the company shirts, got into the truck.

"The driver was then threatened with axes before he was blindfolded and tied up," a police officer said.

"He was pushed into the rest area behind the driver's seat."

The truck was then driven to Tuen Mun, where it was abandoned outside Tuen Mun Town Plaza in Tuen Hi Road.

There, the driver managed to untie himself and sought help from a security guard, who called police around midnight.

Thirty-one pallets containing boxes of computer disks were stolen from the truck, but four pallets were left behind.

Detectives from the New Territories North regional crime unit are investigating.