Kidnap mastermind Asif Mohammed’s trial set for 2020

Asif Mohammed, who stands accused as being the mastermind behind a kidnap plot, is currently out on R5000 bail.

He will be represented by Advocate Shane Matthews,  Public Eye reports.

In September  2018, Mohammed was arrested by two undercover police officers in a joint operation by the Pietermaritzburg Director of Priority Crimes Investigation (DPCI), the KZN Electronic Surveillance Unit and the Intelligence Collection head office at his business premises on Church Street.

He had planned to kidnap children of high-profile businessmen in Pietermaritzburg for a ransom of R5 million however the kidnap was by undercover police agents who swooped on the suspect who ran a cellular business in downtown Church Street. The undercover included police officers in a joint operation with the Pietermaritzburg Director of Priority Crimes Investigation (DPCI), the KZN Electronic Surveillance Unit and the Intelligence Collection head office.

By then, the tightly-knit Pakistani business community distanced themselves from the suspect saying he was an unknown figure.
“We don’t know who he is. We don’t know what he does,” said one Pakistani businessman who also runs a cellular business in the area.

A 15-year-old girl, then, who claimed to be Mohammed’s daughter, said she was running the business for her father, following his arrest. She said that both her dad and her were South African citizens and that she had been born and raised in the country.

State prosecutor Rene Padayachee then, asked that bail be opposed for the following reasons: to verify if Mohammed was in the country legally, the seriousness of the offence, and the safety of state witnesses.

Two police agents from the Multi-Dimensional Crime Intelligence (MDOC) obtained had by then obtained last evidence regarding the planned kidnapping of the son of a Pietermaritzburg businessman.

Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi spokesperson for the Hawks had by then stated that several undercover operations were conducted where the suspect allegedly gave a detailed description of his first target, the safe house where the victim would be held as well as other electronic tools that would have been utilised during and after the alleged kidnapping.

“The suspect then, allegedly provided detailed plans of how the kidnappings would be executed and how to use the instruments, before the kidnapping was foiled by the Hawks and Crime Intelligence operations. The suspect was arrested at his business premises. Additional arrests and charges are possible in the on-going investigation.”

“The suspect gave the undercover agents a packet with about 20 international Sim cards that would have been used to execute the planned kidnapping. He wrote the name and details of the first victim and gave precise details on how the kidnapping would be carried out,” said the source.