Durban - Three suspects between the ages of 23 and 38 were arrested for kidnapping and extortion on Friday according to the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation(Hawks).
Hawks members from the Durban Serious Organised Crime Investigation together with the Special Task Force, Crime Intelligence, District Trio Task Team, Inanda Detectives and Hostage Negotiators were involved in the arrests.
Hawks spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Simphiwe Mhlongo, said a man who had received Road Accident Fund (RAF) compensation was kidnapped in January. The victim was held hostage and forced to go with the suspects to a bank, south of Durban, to make several transfers into the suspects’ accounts amounting to over R100 000.
Mhlongo said the victim’s wife discovered that her husband was missing and contacted the bank to freeze the account. Unable to make further transfers, the kidnappers released the victim in the hopes that he would unfreeze the account.
A case of kidnapping was reported at the Inanda police station and the case docket was allocated to Hawks members for investigation.
“Preliminary investigation revealed that in January and May this year the suspects allegedly kidnapped and extorted the victim who had recently received Road Accident Fund compensation. The suspects allegedly colluded with one of the arrested suspects who is a bank employee and transferred funds from the victim’s bank account,” said Mhlongo.
Mhlongo said last Wednesday two suspects went to the victim’s residence at Ohlange area in Inanda in search of the kidnap victim’s wife. However, only the wife’s sister was at the house with her 20-year-old granddaughter. The suspects searched the house but did not find her.
“The suspects forcefully took the complainant’s granddaughter and demanded that an affidavit must be submitted to the bank in order to unfreeze the account of [the first] extortion victim so that an amount of R765 000.00 can be released to the suspects’ accounts,” he said.
He said investigations led to the arrest of the bank employee. The second and third suspect were then arrested. The granddaughter was found at the location where the third suspect was arrested.
“Teamwork will always yield positive results and police will ensure that greedy criminals are removed from the community,” he said.
The arrested suspects were expected to appear in the Ntuzuma Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, September 26.
Mhlongo added that more arrests were expected.