‘Bail for kidnapping mastermind Charloos would be a huge mistake’ – source

There are calls for bail to be denied to Mozambican kidnapping mastermind Faizal Charloos.

Charloos is expected to appear in court in Soweto on Monday with his wife Sadiya.

The Mozambican businessman was arrested by police on Friday along with five other suspects, including his wife.

During the police raids on houses in Lenasia, Lawley, Brackenhurst and Benoni, which are allegedly linked to Charloos and three of his alleged accomplices, police rescued kidnapped Gauteng businessman, 34-year-old Luqman Kazi.

Charloos and Sadyia previously appeared in the Protea regional court in Soweto in connection with two other kidnappings.

A poster calling for bail to be denied is being widely shared on social media ahead of Charloos’s appearance on Monday.

A person close to the investigation told The Citizen, on condition of anonymity, that granting bail to Charloos would be a mistake.

“If he is out on bail he might interfere with investigators or get rid of evidence and we know there is a number of things still coming up, cases as far back as 2008 and big discoveries on cases in 2016 and 2017.”

The source also said that Charloos is prone to intimidating individuals, including journalists and officials.

“From an investigation case and considering his history, we also know that this guy specifically always intimidated witnesses. We know that once he was given bail, witnesses changed their statements. People then refused to talk to the police and didn’t cooperate with the courts but that was only because he was out,” the source said.

“We fear that if he gets bail, this case will be dealt with like all the other cases in the past. With this guy, specifically for that reason, we need to keep him behind bars because we know there is a history of him also making inroads to prosecution, magistrates and of course the police and bribing his way so that the court process is not followed legally.”

On Saturday, The Citizen also reported that residents have called for the chairman of the Lenasia Community Policing Forum (CPF) Ebrahim Asvat to be investigated for his alleged links to the Charloos.

The residents accuse Asvat of being corrupt and allegedly involved in illegal activities, including the latest spate of crime that hit Lenasia last week.