Four nabbed after kidnapping Indian businessman at OR Tambo International

Police arrested four suspects after an Indian businessman, who had just landed at OR Tambo  International Airport from India, was kidnapped.

Police said the man was kidnapped on arrival at the airport on Friday, 20th of January 2023.

Lured to SA

Police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe said the suspects demanded a ransom from the man’s family in India.

“Preliminary investigations indicate that the Indian businessman was lured to South Africa by the syndicate that was posing as businessmen. A multidisciplinary team consisting of various expertise within the SAPS was established and on Tuesday, 23 January 2023 the team traced the suspects to the Fordsburg area.”

Items seized

Mathe said police seized a number of items.  

“Four cellphones including the one used to communicate with the family were seized, as well as the victim’s watch and driver’s license was found in their possession.

“One firearm and several SIM cards were also seized. A substantial amount of money was also seized which is believed to be ransom payments.”

Mathe said the four suspects will appear before the Kempton Park Magistrates court on Thursday, 26 January 2023.

“The four face kidnapping and extortion charges.  The victim is safe and is receiving counselling.”

ALSO READ: Alleged Mozambican kidnapping kingpin remanded in custody

Kidnapping stats

In 2022, the crime stats revealed a massive spike in the number of kidnappings in South Africa when compared to the 2 000 kidnappings in the same period the previous year.

According to the 2022 statistics, there were 4 028 kidnappings during the period under review – an increase of 2 028 (101.4%) compared to the previous quarter.

Gauteng recorded the most kidnappings with a whopping 2 104 in 2022 compared to (796) in 2021.

This was followed by KwaZulu-Natal at 785 (407), Western Cape 248 (219), Mpumalanga 243 (171), North West 174 (128) and Limpopo 124 (64).

Surprisingly, the crime stats showed that kidnappings for ransom and extortion only accounted for 102 kidnappings, albeit in some if not most of the cases, very large amounts of cash was demanded from the victims’ families.

ALSO READ: Crime Stats: Kidnappings double – over 4000 cases reported in 3 months