Kidnappings, on the increase

KIDNAPPINGS, including “express kidnappings” continued to increase alongside extortion in Cape Town.

Victims were held under duress and threatened with violence while they were forced to withdraw funds from their bank account, or to grant access to other forms of valuables, said safety and security Mayco member JP Smith.

On Sunday, a badly assaulted victim was rescued during a patrol in Zwelitsha Drive, Nyanga. Law Enforcement Advancement Plan officers noted a Ford EcoSport being driven suspiciously.

They stopped the vehicle and found an injured man in the boot.

The victim confirmed he had been kidnapped. All occupants of the vehicle were arrested and taken to Nyanga SAPS.

On Tuesday, a silver VW Polo was reported hijacked and the driver kidnapped in Kuyasa in Khayelitsha. The Harare Carjacking Team followed up on tracker location, which led them to Enkanini in Stellenbosch. The driver was found assaulted and tied up in the boot of his car.

Members arrested two suspects in possession of two stolen vehicles, cellphones, three plasma televisions and an unlicensed firearm.

Police spokesperson FC van Wyk said that on June 30, police were lauded for arresting suspects driving a Mercedes-Benz and a white Polo on their way to Bellville to commit a business robbery and to kidnap a foreign businessman

The vehicles were intercepted at Old Paarl Road, Bellville, and in Oakglen, Bellville, respectively. Seven people were arrested.

On June 2, 31 year-old Staphanie Raith, from Welgemoed, was taken as she left her workplace, a family business called Raith Gourmet in Parow Industrial. Her vehicle was discovered at NY99 in Gugulethu after she failed to return home from work.

Smith said that in an express kidnapping the perpetrators usually avoided contact with the victim’s family or friends.

During the release of the fourth quarter crime statistics, January to March 2023 for the 2022/23 financial year, numbers revealed that the Western Cape had a 7.7% reduction in the kidnapping rate. |