By Augustine Ehikioya
Police officials in South Africa have arrested six suspected kidnappers and rescued the victim unharmed in Hillbrow.
One of the arrested suspect has been identified to be the mastermind of several kidnapping in the Gauteng Province.
This was disclosed in a statement by Colonel Dimakatso Sello of the
South African Police Service, Office of the Provincial Commissioner Gauteng. It was made available to Security Watch Africa (SWA) on Monday.
It reads “The Provincial Commissioner of the South African Police Service in Gauteng, Lieutenant General Elias Mawela has commended a multi-disciplinary task team that has been established to crack down on syndicates operating in kidnappings.
“This comes after the arrest of six men between Saturday and today for a hijacking and kidnapping incident that occurred last week in Hillbrow.
“One of the suspects who is believed to be the mastermind of several kidnapping incidents in and around the Province, is currently on bail for three other incidents of hijacking, kidnapping and extortion.
“The Province has been experiencing a surge in kidnapping incidents recently. Gauteng Organised Crime Investigations and Hillbrow Detectives teamed up with the National Task Team that investigates kidnappings for ransom in the search of the victim that was hijacked on 17th November, 2021,” it said.
The team, the statement noted, received information from Crime Intelligence on the whereabouts of the victim and organised a sting operation “between Saturday and early hours of today.”
It added that the National and Provincial Crime Intelligence, Provincial Tracking Unit, Provincial Organised Crime Investigations, Hillbrow Detectives and Ekurhuleni Metro Police managed to rescue the 47-year-old victim from a house in Crystal Park during the early hours.
“The victim was found with no visible injuries and then taken to hospital for a medical check-up. He has been safely reunited with his family.
On the arrests made, the statement said “One suspect was arrested on Saturday and two more were arrested in different addresses in Daveyton between Sunday and early hours of today while the other three were arrested at the house where the victim was found.”
The Provincial Commissioner, it said, has expressed a relief that the victim was found unharmed.
“Hijacking and kidnappings are becoming a problem for Gauteng but now I am glad that with the measures that we have put in place, supported by the National Head Office, we are starting to see positive results. These members involved in the arrests have done an excellent job,” said Lt Gen Mawela.