The kidnapping and beating of a man running a business in Kokstad is just one of many such crimes by an international ring.
|||KwaZulu-Natal - A KwaZulu-Natal businessman was subjected to 22 days of terror at the hands of men who kidnapped him, repeatedly beat him and threatened to kill him while they kept him chained to a bedpost.
He was released after a ransom of a million rupees (R161 000) had been paid.
Police and private investigators on Friday dealt a severe blow to an international syndicate, arresting several key gang members responsible for the violent abduction of Pakistani citizen Yasir Gulzar, of Kokstad. He was held from October 13 to November 3.
The gang had moved the businessman between safe houses in Durban and Pretoria while they raided his bank accounts and negotiated a hefty ransom with his family in Pakistan.
They are thought to be just one of a number of cells operating in South Africa, targeting those with access to large sums of money.
Gulzar, 28, was held against his will for 22 days while his ransom was paid into a bank account in Pakistan.
The gang’s kingpin, a man wanted by the Hawks for a string of similar abductions, is on the run.
The gang is understood to have links to an unchecked spate of kidnappings in Mozambique, and are wanted for several cases across South Africa.
Mozambican police have been unable to halt the momentum of the kidnappings in which nearly 50 locals and foreign nationals have been snatched for ransom.
Nearly R270 million has been paid in ransom money in Mozambique so far, with one teenager killed by his captors after his parents contacted police.
Gulzar told the Sunday Tribune how he was lured to a shop in Pietermaritzburg by two friends who are alleged to have acted in concert with the gang’s ringleader.
“We were going to Pietermaritzburg to buy stock. We met with another man who I didn’t know and we were invited to his shop to eat dinner… when I was inside they hit me and locked the door,” he said.
“My friend came inside and he kicked me in the face and they kept hitting me and threatening me with knives and a gun,” Gulzar said.
It is alleged his friends, who also own shops in Kokstad, were to be given a cut of the ransom money for helping to lure Gulzar to the provincial capital.
He told how money he had brought with him to buy stock had been stolen and how he was beaten repeatedly by his captors.
“They made me drink liquor and take medication and after that I remember nothing. The next thing I knew I was on a bed and I couldn’t move, but I think I was in Durban.
“They made me phone my girlfriend and tell her that I was fine but that I had been robbed, and that she must put money in my account,” he said.
This routine was repeated for several days, with Gulzar coerced into begging for money from his friends and family.
When his girlfriend blocked his bank account and went to the police, he was swiftly moved to a location in Pretoria where he was held, spending approximately 16 days there.
Gulzar said he was drugged when he was moved so that he would not be able to identify his kidnapping locations.
“I was terrified that they were going to kill me once the money had been paid to them, and I had no opportunity to escape. I was chained permanently and was flogged and threatened at random,” he said.
Once his family in Pakistan had paid a ransom of a million rupees, he was dropped off on a street in Pretoria.
“They told me that if I spoke of what had happened they would come back and kill me, that is why I didn’t want to report this thing at first,” he said.
A team of Kokstad detectives, working closely with private investigators from Magma Security, on Friday arrested Gulzar’s roommates and another man, thought to be one of the planners of several abductions across the country.
This man was previously linked to the kidnapping of an Indian national who had been held for an extended period in holiday accommodation in Port Shepstone.
Magma Security and Investigations spokesman Shaheen Suleiman said the joint operation was a success.
“We worked hard throughout the night, and acting on intelligence from our informer network, were able to take three men into custody. Without the close co-operation between police and our investigators, this would not have been possible,” he said.
“We have dealt with several cases in which businessmen have been abducted for ransom and it speaks to a worrying trend that is emerging, especially given the close links to what we have seen happening in Mozambique.
“We are hopeful that there will be other arrests to follow and that the men responsible for these callous acts are brought to book,” Suleiman added.
“When we arrested the men behind the last kidnapping in Port Shepstone, we took a complete kidnapping cell off the streets and they remain behind bars. I intend to do the same with this lot.
“The problem with this gang is that people are so scared of them, they rarely report these cases. The more people that come forward, the better armed we will be,” he said.
Chairman of the Pietermaritzburg Pakistani business forum Imraan Awan said the community would rise up against their attackers.
“We will mobilise the community to stamp out this activity, and the age of being ruled by fear of these men is over. We are willing to put our names down and work with any law enforcement arm to see that these men are made to pay for what they are doing.”
“We are business people who come here from Pakistan to run honest enterprises and these men who maraud around and pluck people from their homes at will give us all a bad name,” he added.
He said a community meeting had been planned and people suspected of being involved in the international ring would be handed over to police.
Police spokesman Colonel Jay Naicker confirmed that police were investigating a docket of kidnapping and that three arrests had been made.
The suspects will appear in the Kokstad magistrate’s court tomorrow. - Sunday Tribune