Crime activist questions Laudium ‘kidnapping hotspot’ claims
“I haven’t heard of any ransom kidnapping cases in Laudium over the past six months.”
A local crime activist has repudiated claims by a security company that Laudium was a kidnapping hotspot.
This was after Calvin Rafadi, the director of local security company Bizz Tracers, claimed Laudium had an abnormally high number of kidnappings with about 20 cases a month.
However, local crime activist Yusuf Abramjee said, “I haven’t heard of any ransom kidnapping cases in Laudium over the past six months”.
Sergeant Simon Chokoe, a spokesperson for the Laudium police station, also said they had not received any reports of kidnapping cases as of late.
Rafadi said he didn’t want to cause a panic by releasing the figures, but rather raise awareness.
“That way syndicates know that their operations are exposed,” Rafadi said.
“In every crime, when criminal syndicates’ modus operandi is exposed, the actual crime reduces.”
The police’s crime statistics for October to December 2021/22 list the top 30 police stations in terms of kidnappings. The Laudium police station, however, is not one of them.
The highest number of kidnappings during this period (54) were reported in Inanda in KwaZulu-Natal while the lowest (16) were reported in Mamelodi East.
ALSO READ: Laudium is kidnapping hotspot, says local security company
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