Five arrested for kidnapping, extortion

The suspects demanded ransom of R1 million from the child’s family, Lowvelder reported.

The suspects, aged between 19 and 30, were scheduled to appear in court today.

Police spokesperson Colonel Leonard Hlathi said the boy’s father sent someone to the school to fetch his son at about 4.10pm on Friday.

“However, the person was told that the boy had already been collected by a relative,” Hlathi said.

At about 7.30pm, the father was called by somebody who demanded R1 million for the release of his son. He immediately notified the police, and an investigation was launched.

The following day at about 9.24am, the father received another SMS instructing him to have the money ready to avoid harm to the boy.

Police managed to track down the location of the suspects. Discussions between police negotiators and the suspects then began.

“We then discovered that more suspects were involved in the kidnapping,” Hlathi said.

“During these negotiations, it was agreed that they [the suspects] would meet the father at a shopping area at Lydenburg. They suddenly changed the meeting venue to be a graveyard at Lydenburg.”

Hlathi said: “While police were on their way there, they came across the suspects’ vehicle and followed it. The suspects became alert and sped off. Police gave chase and they [suspects] drove into the bushes, alighted and fled the scene on foot with the boy.”

The boy was handed over to his father unharmed. The outcome of the court case is pending.

This after a 15-year-old girl who was allegedly kidnapped in Bedfordview in August last year was later found at a petrol station in northern Johannesburg.

The girl was found in Sunninghill after she was abducted while walking from Edenglen to Highway Gardens.

The kidnapped girl reportedly told police officers that her kidnappers also raped her.

Edenvale police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Robbie Roberts said investigations were ongoing.

– Caxton News Service