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A group of angry residents who went in search of a syndicate exploiting e-hailing commuters and tertiary students, said they created a trap for the suspects to be caught.

Following recent reports to taxi associations by victims, a decision to form a trap by passing the gang’s usual spot in on the corner of Landdros Mare and Rissik Street carrying laptops was made.

Six men – two attached to a notorious ‘kgamas’ gang and four supposed e-hailing drivers were then stripped naked and beaten by the group after positive identification by the alleged victims on Tuesday (February 14).

“The kgama boys attempted to take their laptops and that is how we managed to catch them. They are the ones who took us to their associates, the e-hailing men. When we got there, the victims identified them,” a source close to the scene told the Review-Observer.

A video circulating on social media shows four of the men walking naked in the CBD, wounded, while mob voices and sjambok wielding men follow them.

“The kgamas group commit crime in the CBD and target college and university students. These e-hailing men make commuters pay double the amount in the evenings and when you refuse, they take your belongings. They also work together as the e-hailing men transport members of the gang to commit these acts. That is why the community reacted to it,” the source said.

Meanwhile, the Limpopo E-hailing Unity has since released a statement distancing itself from the supposed drivers and confirmed that the men operated using stolen profiles.

“The men were acting contrary to the rules and regulations provided by any of the e-hailing companies operating in Polokwane (Bolt, T-Drive and Uber) and are criminals that should be left to the law enforcement agencies to deal with,” their statement read.

The police are yet to confirm the incident and another source close to the incident says one of the four men seen in the circulating video succumbed to his injuries in hospital.