Two men, posing as helpless motorists, have been arrested on suspicion of assault after threatening another driver with a knife.

The ‘road pirates’ were standing on the side of the road, in Kinna in Marks municipality, when a passing motorist stopped to help. Instead, he was threatened with a knife but managed to escape unharmed and alerted the police.

“He wanted to be nice and help them,” said Jenny Widén, a spokesperson for the police in Västra Götaland.

Local police later arrested two suspects, one in his thirties and the other in his fifties, in connection with the suspected assault.

Thefts carried out by road pirates, who pose as stranded motorists only to carry out robberies when assistance is offered, are on the rise in Sweden but arrests are rarely made as they are always on the move, police said. One tactic used by the pirates is to offer gold or money in exchange for fuel and then rob their victim.

“There are more people out there with this approach but we don’t know yet if these are the same perpetrators who threatened another motorist earlier this summer,” added Widén.

Police have urged motorists to be vigilant when approaching strangers on the side of the road in the wake of the incident, and urged motorists to keep going and instead alert emergency services of the stranded drivers’ plight.

TT/The Local/pr

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