Johannesburg - They were travelling from Zimbabwe, expecting to arrive in Joburg on February 1 to catch their taxi home in the Eastern Cape. But instead, a taxi full of people landed up locked in a basement in Hillbrow being held hostage by the men who were supposed to take them home.
Among them was a 15-year-old girl and her parents. The teenager is still missing.
Hillbrow police spokesman Sergeant Mduduzi Zondo said it all started when the taxi had passed Pretoria en route to Joburg. “As they drove towards Joburg, the taxi driver and an accomplice started demanding money from the passengers. It was money which they had already paid to travel from Zimbabwe to Joburg,” he said.
Many of the passengers were unable to pay the amount, and instead of being taken to the Joburg CBD as they'd expected, they were diverted to a basement in Hillbrow.
“We suspect it was a full taxi of passengers who were going to different parts of the country. The parents of the 15-year-old girl were able to escape with several others. Her parents came straight to police,” he said.
The parents said there were five or six men in the basement assaulting the passengers and holding them at gunpoint.
“They demanded R3 000 from each of the passengers for their release. When Hillbrow police arrived at the basement, which they had been directed to, they found it empty. The girl was missing and the suspects had fled,” Zondo said.
When asked if any other witnesses had come forward, he said it was only the teenager’s parents so far.
“There were so many people travelling in different directions that we suspect most of them wanted to escape and run away from these men.”
Two suspects have been arrested in connection with the kidnappings.
“Police are following several leads and we are working around the clock to find her. This is still an ongoing investigation. We are appealing to anyone with information to come forward,” Zondo added.
This is not the first such incident. Last month, a 22-year-old man from Edenvale was kidnapped at the border between South Africa and Zimbabwe.
Police said the man had taken a minibus taxi after the bus he was travelling in broke down.
The taxi driver who offered to take him and other passengers to Gauteng demanded cellphones and money from them, then, with another gangster, kidnapped them. The thugs then phoned the man’s father and demanded he pay R3 000 or else they would kill him.
Police managed to trace the men and the kidnapped passengers to Yeoville, but the criminals had already fled the scene.
@Lanc_02
The Star