South African Kidnapping Syndicates Plague Cape Town
Every week, an average of three kidnappings are reported to civilian crime fighters as distrust of the police force where, in the past six months, 11 police members have been arrested for corruption in the Western Cape, grows.
Landwebs
Thirty-four people have been kidnapped in South Africa’s Western Cape over the last seven months, with eleven members of the area’s Bangladeshi community being taken hostage in the past three months alone. Kidnapping for ransom or extortion has been on the rise in South Africa since 2016, replacing cash-in-transit heists as a viable revenue source for criminal organizations, reports Tammy Petersen in an investigation for News 24.
Family and close associates of the victims receive videos of them being tortured and abused as they negotiate the necessary sum to buy their freedom. Every week, an average of three kidnappings are reported to civilian crime fighters as distrust of the police force where, in the past six months, 11 police members have been arrested for corruption in the Western Cape, grows.
