Mduduzi Mathebula
SEBOKENG. – Sebokeng Police are investigating a case of extortion and kidnapping after an uncle was arrested in Sebokeng recently.
The uncle apparently plotted a scam to rip off his own brother, a businessman from Qwa-Qwa. Eighteen-year-old *Mantoa Mofokeng who attends a College in Vereeniging was said to have been kidnapped.
However, this was the scam plotted by the uncle. According to the police Mofokeng stays with her uncle, a 48–year–old, at the Sebokeng hostel. Mofokeng ‘disappeared’ and her father, who is said to be a top businessman in the Free State owning trucks and taxis, was required to hand R200 000 over if he wanted to ever see his child alive.
All this was communicated via a telephone conversation. Police spokesperson Warrant Officer Sam Mofokatsane said the kidnappers asked Mofokeng’s father not to involve the police if he wanted to find her daughter still alive. The victim’s father drove from Qwa-Qwa to Sebokeng to find out what was happening and insisted to his brother that they open a case. When they arrived at the Police Station and were busy opening the case, a call came in and the caller who identified herself as ‘Pinki” told him they could see him opening the case.
“We called the Hawks which is the other SAPS Department from the national office. The Hawks used the ‘call-grab’ system to trace cell phone coordinates to identify the phone used to call the victim’s father,” said Mofokatsane.
The ‘missing’ Mofokeng was found at the Thabong Shopping Centre. Mofokatsane said the uncle was then arrested after investigations.He has yet to appear on charges of kidnapping and extortion.
*Not her real name.
