Security organisations on wild goose chase after alleged kidnapping incident
The woman (18) claimed to be from Swaziland and that she and her family members had been the victims of kidnappers. She also said her family was being held hostage and her car had been hijacked.
A large contingent of police officers and security workers were sent on an extensive but apparently unnecessary manhunt on Monday. The nine-hour search and investigation ended when police concluded that the victim had fabricated her story.
They embarked on an intensive search for the suspects. The woman (18) claimed to be from Swaziland and that she and her family members had been the victims of kidnappers. She also said her family was being held hostage and her car had been hijacked.
Officers from Mbombela as well as the provincial SAPS, the K9 unit, the flying squad, the Swaziland Police Service, Bossies Community Justice (BCJ), Hi-Tech Security Nelspruit, Phoenix Security as well as Child Protection Services collaborated in the investigation. The woman reportedly stopped SAPS vehicles in Mbombela’s city centre that morning to tell her story. The companies then used Sasol in Rocky Drift as an assembly point before they embarked on a search which stretched to Penryn. Eyewitnesses alerted Nelspruit Post to the impressive presence of a large contingent of police vehicles around Hall’s field near the school.
“We searched the entire area for suspects matching the descriptions,” an informed source told the paper. “We dispatched every vehicle and she accompanied us on the search missions. However, she seemed to be heavily confused the whole time. She claimed to have been dropped off at the filling station by her hijackers, but she had many different versions of the story and none of them added up.”
SAPS contacted Swaziland police to confirm whether a case of kidnapping had been opened. Swaziland enquired about the matter extensively, but could not find evidence of such a case being reported.
The source said the woman “was not completely sane” and it seemed as though she had fabricated the kidnapping.
“We don’t know why she would do it, but it was not the first time we have received a call like this.” After searching from 13:00 until 22:00 the search was called off and the case was handed over to social workers to take care of the woman.
According to the source, she would be transported back to Swaziland as soon as the case had been dealt with effectively.
