A kidnapping victim was rescued, three suspects arrested and an unlicensed firearm recovered during a joint operation by the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police Department (EMPD) Community Liaison Unit and the South African Police Service (SAPS).

According to the EMPD, officers responded to a reported kidnapping between Greenstone and London Road. Acting on coordinates provided by a tracking company, they recovered the victim’s vehicle in Alexandra while continuing the search for the victim.

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Working with a banking-sector kidnapping response team, investigators established that the suspects were using the victim’s bank accounts to make fraudulent purchases at a clothing store in a shopping mall in Alexandra.

Officers responded immediately and arrested two suspects who were allegedly making transactions worth about R45 000 using the victim’s cellphone. The keys to the victim’s hijacked vehicle were also found in their possession.

Information obtained during a brief interrogation led officers to a residence on Thoko Nomgoma Street in East Bank, where a third suspect was arrested. A search of the property uncovered several boxes of expensive footwear, clothing and other items believed to have been purchased using the victim’s stolen funds.

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Officers also recovered an unlicensed Norinco firearm with a defaced serial number, along with ammunition.

About 20 minutes later, the kidnapped victim was found unharmed at a garage in the Lombardy area.

The three suspects, believed to be in their early 20s, were detained at Alexandra Police Station. They are expected to appear in the relevant magistrate’s court on charges of kidnapping, hijacking, extortion, possession of an unlicensed firearm and possession of ammunition.