/ 11 May 2010

Kidnapped boy reunited with his family

An Angolan mining magnate’s five-year-old son, who was kidnapped in Johannesburg on Sunday, has been reunited with his family, two radio stations reported on Tuesday.

Criminal investigator Declan Condon told the stations a ransom was paid and the boy was rescued.

“We did an exchange with the kidnappers. We gave them a vast amount of dollars and demanded that they hand the child over at the same time; after the tense situation they walked up and handed the child over,” he said.

Captain Cynthia Magoai could not confirm this, but said she was on her way to the boy’s home. Police were investigating a kidnapping, she said.

The boy was in the care of his nanny while both his parents travelled to Angola at the weekend.

The nanny took the boy to her church in Troyeville and he was kidnapped while playing with other children at the church’s play school about 8am on Sunday, Magoai said. — Sapa