South African police arrest Mozambican man after armed kidnapping in Johannesburg

A Mozambican national who was illegally in South Africa was arrested by police along with two South Africans following an armed abduction in the Greater Johannesburg East region, South African security forces said on Wednesday.

A statement from police in Nelspruit (now Mbombela), a commercial warehouse supplying Mozambicans that is about 100 kilometers from the border with the neighboring Portuguese-speaking country, said the incident took place in the town of Delmas, about 70 kilometers from Johannesburg. ., east of the economic capital of South Africa.

“Three suspects, aged between 28 and 37, were arrested and charged with illegal possession of a firearm, possession of ammunition, possession of stolen property, kidnapping and robbery,” South African police said, releasing photographs of the seized vehicle and weapons. .

“One of the detained suspects is an undocumented Mozambican citizen, while the other two are South African citizens,” he said.

Police said “the victim was from Witbank when he was attacked by three kidnappers, two of them armed with firearms, at around 8am.” [hora local]”.

During the operation, which included Flying Squad rapid response teams from Middleburg and the neighboring town of Benoni, police recovered the stolen vehicle, seized two stolen firearms, ammunition and communications equipment, and arrested three suspects. “Approximately 21 minutes after the vehicle was stolen from its owner in Delmas this morning,” he said.

According to the statement, the firearms were stolen in KwaDukuza, South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province, in the southeast of the country, and in Meyerton, south of Johannesburg, in 2022 and 2023 respectively.