Kidnapped Cape Town woman freed
Mother-of-two Anichka Penev, 35, has been reunited with her family
● A woman kidnapped outside her business premises more than a week ago is back at home with her husband and two young children after her “negotiated” release on Friday night.
Western Cape police announced yesterday that Anichka Penev, 35, had been reunited with her family.
Police spokesperson warrant officer Joseph Swartbooi said police were investigating the circumstances surrounding the kidnapping.
Last Thursday, the Ukrainian businesswoman was abducted at about 10am while driving her yellow Audi 8 outside a plastic factory she runs with her husband, Simeon, in Blue Downs.
CCTV footage showed two cars boxing her in on a road leading to the factory before she was forced into one of the vehicles.
Several sources told the Sunday Times that the kidnappers had demanded a R5m ransom.
Sources close to the investigation told the Sunday Times that police raided six locations between Thursday and Friday.
They said the kidnappers called late on Friday and said Penev would be killed if the ransom was not paid.
The negotiations, according to the sources, were handled by the national kidnapping task team.
They said a final ransom demand was settled at R1.2m, which was dropped on the N2 in a duffel bag.
A proof-of-life video and voice note was allegedly sent before the ransom was paid. Penev was released about an hour after the ransom was collected.
The sources’ details of the release could not be independently verified by police or Penev’s family.
A family representative, who declined to be named, told the Sunday Times that Penev has two children aged two and one.
He said her husband had been in a state of shock since the day she was kidnapped.
“No-one can prepare for something like this,” he said.
He said the factory employed 250 people and is one of the biggest plastic bottle manufacturers in SA.
“They are really good people. They have no enemies, we really can’t understand why this happened,” he said.
Yesterday Simeon confirmed his wife’s safe return on WhatsApp.
“We thank from the bottom of our hearts every single kind heart that has been praying and supporting us throughout this difficult journey. Anne is home,” he wrote.
Hanif Loonat, the former chair of the Western Cape community policing forum, said the release had been negotiated.
He said Penev had been held in Khayelitsha. “I got a call at 12.05am informing me that she has been released. The release was negotiated,” he said.
“She was taken to the hospital before she was reunited with her family.”
He said cash-in-transit syndicates were behind the business kidnappings in Cape Town.
“The cash-in-transit robberies have become difficult. Now they are going kidnappings which is less dangerous,” he said.
Loonat said he had been closely involved in the hunt for Penev, and that he had met with Simeon shortly after the abduction.
“I was the first person he contacted. As I landed at the airport I got his call. I then proceeded to mobilise the provincial team and ... the national kidnapping team,” said Loonat.
Loonat, who now lives in Johannesburg, said he had been in Cape Town for a meeting with the Muslim Judicial Council and other religious forums.
“I rushed out of the meeting to the crime scene in Blue Downs. I found her vehicle parked there. I went into the building and spoke to the husband. I gave my assurance that we would do everything to the best of our ability to ensure her safe return,” he said.
“I comforted him and I gave him advice about what he should do and what not do. He was extremely hurt. He was traumatised. People were accusing him of being involved. That is hogwash. I know him. He was devastated.
“His words to me were: ‘Hanif please, my wife is vulnerable. She is not in a healthy state. Please do everything you can.’”
The Sunday Times has established that Penev was in negotiations with a local business forum over security at the company’s business premises days before she was abducted.