Armed men kidnapped 3-year-old boy in Free State

A 3-year-old boy was kidnapped, allegedly by five armed men, in Bainsvlei in the Mangaung area, Free State police said.

“According to the 23-year-old complainant, the group of men, armed with firearms, arrived at a smallholding in Abrahamskraal in Bainsvlei looking for her boyfriend during the evening of Monday, October 25. She agreed to take them to Baylana near R64 Road (Boshof Road) where she last saw the boyfriend,” spokesperson Brigadier Motantsi Makhele said.

“The complainant took her 3-year-old boy with and she sat with the child at the front seat as four other suspects sat at the back of the bakkie. The group arrived at their destination which was the diesel depot in R64 Road, Bainsvlei. The complainant and the suspects got off the vehicle leaving the child behind in the bakkie.”

He said that when they approached the depot the men noticed the presence of security guards manning their post.

“They started shooting in the air while making their way back to the vehicle. The suspects jumped into the bakkie and fled with the 3-year-old son of the complainant. A docket of kidnapping was opened at Bainsvlei Police Station.”

He said a police search team was on the lookout for five men driving a red bakkie without a canopy in the Mangaung area.

In separate incident, Western Cape police said two people were arrested last week in Meadowlands south of Johannesburg in connection with a kidnapping and extortion case.

“An intensive investigation into the circumstances of a kidnapping case where an Ethiopian national was kidnapped in Harare on September 16 led detectives to Gauteng where they continue their search for the victim, following demands for ransom for the victim’s safe return,” spokesperson Colonel Andre Traut said.

“In Gauteng, our detectives partnered with Meadowlands police and conducted a raid at a storage facility in Hennessey Street in Meadowlands where a total of 11 kidnapped Ethiopian males were found. Five of the 11 victims are from the Western Cape. Two were kidnapped in Harare, two in Paarl, and one in Worcester. The other six victims are from other provinces, and they were reunited with their respective families.”

He said the two arrested who were guarding the storage facility at the time of the raid would be brought to the Western Cape to face the charges against them.

“The circumstances surrounding the extortion and kidnapping cases are still under investigation and the identities of the victims are not disclosed at this premature stage,” he said.

-IOL

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