Nineteen operations have been carried out over a three-year period by the South African Police Service (SAPS), working with the Hawks, Interpol and external organisations such as private security companies. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)
South Africa’s kidnapping syndicates stretch from Gauteng, Limpopo and Mpumalanga to Pakistan, Bangladesh and Mozambique. Hostages may be held in places such as Polokwane and the kidnappers demand ransom payment in Karachi or Dubai.
The prevalence of kidnapping syndicates in South Africa, some of which are run by foreigners and rake in millions of rand, has emerged in a high-level crime intelligence report into the increasing escalation of the problem.
So organised are the syndicates that people, mostly from Asia and parts of Africa, are trafficked into South Africa, kept hostage in deplorable conditions and their families, who could be in Bangladesh, Dubai or Pakistan, are called to make ransom payments in that country’s currency, which could range from R500 000 to R10-million.
Over a three-year period, 176 suspects were arrested for kidnapping and 36 for human trafficking. Seven hostages were found dead. The 19 operations were carried out by the South African Police Service (SAPS), working with the Hawks, Interpol and external organisations such as private security companies.
This is according to an internal crime intelligence document that detailed the police service’s investigations into kidnappings and related crimes such as human trafficking from September 2018 to August 2021.
The report focuses on seven areas: kidnapping of business people and their families; kidnappings of Bangladeshis and Pakistanis; kidnappings related to trafficking people; kidnappings related to hijackings; kidnappings for small ransoms; kidnappings related to domestic violence; and staged or fake kidnappings.
An example of a cross-border operation was the January 2019 arrest of eight suspects — four in South Africa and four in Pakistan — when a victim was smuggled into the Mpumalanga town of Grootvlei and a R500 000 ransom was paid in Karachi, Pakistan, for the hostage’s release.
Photographs of the operation show that the hostage was kept in a dingy room with a mattress. The victim was found blindfolded.
The report said suspects involved in cross-border kidnappings usually demanded that the ransom be paid outside of South Africa. “The minimum ransom demanded is R10-million. [In] most of the cases, the ransom is paid in foreign countries like Dubai [in the United Arab Emirates] and Mozambique.”
The report added that immigrants in South Africa are also involved in kidnappings. “The suspects involved are people from their own country of origin. [They] target businessmen who are successful. They want them to [pay] protection fees every month or to surrender their businesses. The ransom demand is between R500 000 and R2-million.”
In another cross-border operation, a South African citizen who was snatched and smuggled to the Mozambican city of Matola was rescued before the ransom was paid.
“The [kidnapping] information was liaised with Mozambique police through Interpol NCB [National Central Bureau] Pretoria to [the] address [of] the suspect in Mozambique. On the 20th of May 2020, the close cooperation between the two countries led to the rescue of the victim and the arrest of three suspects from a safe house in Mozambique used by the suspects.”
In April 2019, the report stated, 11 illegal immigrants from Asia were arrested after a “tactical operation” was conducted at a residential complex in Pretoria West, Gauteng.
Of the 11 arrested, nine were from Bangladesh and two were from India.
The report said the suspects trafficked 36 people from various Asian and African countries into South Africa to be menial workers, among other things.
Piles of passports, asylum seeker documents and R519 690 in cash was found and seized. The 36 people were then deported.
As recently as 10 February, a 39-year-old Pakistani, Dilpazeer Azam, who the police service labelled a “kidnapping mastermind”, appeared in the Polokwane magistrate’s court and was remanded in custody for the alleged trafficking of 10 people. Azam was arrested on 6 February in Centurion, Gauteng.
Police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Robert Netshiunda said Azam was arrested “during an intelligence-led operation” that involved the police service’s organised crime unit stationed at its Tshwane head office, the Gauteng hostage negotiations team and private security companies.
“Preliminary investigations have revealed that [Azam] was making calls to the families of the victims demanding ransom. It is reported that on 26 January 2022, 10 foreign nationals were travelling along the N1 from Musina when they were stopped by another vehicle. The victims were allegedly loaded into another vehicle and transported to Polokwane where they were allegedly handed to the suspect near the Peter Mokaba Stadium,” Netshiunda said.
“On Thursday, 10 February 2022 the investigating team operationalised intelligence information which led them to a lodge in Bruma, Johannesburg, where the 10 victims were rescued unharmed.”
Netshiunda said Azam would return to the Polokwane magistrate’s court for his formal bail application, adding that police investigations were continuing and more arrests were imminent.
In a separate case in January, Netshiunda said that Rezaul Amin Molla, 29, from Bangladesh, was kidnapped in Mpumalanga by four of his countrymen, who called Molla’s family in Bangladesh and asked for a ransom. “Mohammed Asrepur Rahman and Mohammed Sha Alamin have since confessed to kidnapping Molla in Kwaggafontein and subsequently killing him in Bophelong, Vanderbijlpark, in Gauteng.
“The other two suspects were arrested in Bophelong and a vehicle which was allegedly used during the kidnapping was found at the residence of one of the suspects.”
But not all kidnappings involve people from other countries, according to the report. “Recently, there has been [an] increase in South African syndicates involved in kidnappings without foreign nationals’ involvement.”
In January, Police Minister Bheki Cele said in response to a written question in parliament that police officers had also been arrested in alleged kidnapping cases. He said that two City of Tshwane metropolitan police officials were arrested last year. In a 2019 case in Johannesburg, of the nine suspects arrested, two were police officials.
There were 2 000 kidnapping cases from July to September 2020, the minister said when he released the crime statistics for that period.
In total, there were 6 837 cases of kidnapping and related crimes in the 2021-22 financial year.
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