{"id":57552,"date":"2022-05-26T12:46:38","date_gmt":"2022-05-26T10:46:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/vistanews\/three-suspected-kidnappers-caught-20220526-2\/"},"modified":"2025-03-20T20:20:44","modified_gmt":"2025-03-20T18:20:44","slug":"three-suspected-kidnappers-caught-20220526-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/vistanews\/three-suspected-kidnappers-caught-20220526-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Three suspected kidnappers caught"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"p\" xml_lang=\"en-uk\">The police in Welkom have made a big breakthrough in their fight against the kidnappings that have been making headlines in the district lately.<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"p\" xml_lang=\"en-uk\">Between 20 and 30 foreign national shop owners, mostly Bangladeshi, were kidnapped for ransom in the Goldfields between March and April this year.<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"p\" xml_lang=\"en-uk\">\u201cThree men were arrested on 21 and 22 May after they threatened two foreign shop owners with kidnapping in the Welkom industrial area,\u201d says Capt.\u2009Stephen Thakeng, SAPS spokesperson.<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"p\" xml_lang=\"en-uk\">Two brothers were approached by the suspected kidnappers on Wednesday (18\/05). They demanded money from the brothers, threatening to kidnap them if they did not pay.<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"p\" xml_lang=\"en-uk\">Thakeng says the extortionists told the two shop owners that another shop owner had already paid R10\u2009000 to prevent him from being kidnapped.<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"p\" xml_lang=\"en-uk\">\u201cThe brothers told the kidnappers on Wednesday night that they did not have money with them and that they should return the next day,\u201d says Thakeng.<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"p\" xml_lang=\"en-uk\">The foreigners informed the police of the incident and Welkom\u2019s various police units launched a joint action.<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"p\" xml_lang=\"en-uk\">The dog unit apprehended the suspects, aged between 25 and 40, over the weekend.<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"p\" xml_lang=\"en-uk\">Thakeng says police believe this is a breakthrough after the spate of kidnappings in the area. Some of the victims were shot or beaten with a sjambok in order to convince their family members or fellow citizens to pay the ransom.<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"p\" xml_lang=\"en-uk\">The three suspects, Raymond Zukuza, Moeketsi Mofokeng and Thomas Mpono, appeared in the Welkom Magistrate\u2019s Court on 23 May.<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"p\" xml_lang=\"en-uk\">ThomasMpono, a taxi driver, was granted bail of R1\u2009000 and the two others remain in custody and will again appear on 30\u2009May for bail application. The three are facing extortion and theft.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The police in Welkom have made a big breakthrough in their fight against the kidnappings that have been making headlines in the district lately.<br \/>\nBetween 20 and 30 foreign national shop owners, mostly Bangladeshi, were kidnapped for ransom in the Goldfields between March and April this year.<br \/>\n\u201cThree men were arrested on 21 and 22 May after they threatened two foreign shop owners with kidnapping in the Welkom industrial area,\u201d says Capt.?Stephen Thakeng, SAPS 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This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.8 (Yoast SEO v27.8) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Three suspected kidnappers caught | Vista<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/vistanews\/three-suspected-kidnappers-caught-20220526-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Three suspected kidnappers caught\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The police in Welkom have made a big breakthrough in their fight against the kidnappings that have been making headlines in the district lately. Between 20 and 30 foreign national shop owners, mostly Bangladeshi, were kidnapped for ransom in the Goldfields between March and April this year. \u201cThree men were arrested on 21 and 22 May after they threatened two foreign shop owners with kidnapping in the Welkom industrial area,\u201d says Capt.?Stephen Thakeng, SAPS spokesperson.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/vistanews\/three-suspected-kidnappers-caught-20220526-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Vista\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/VistaNewsNuus\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-05-26T10:46:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-03-20T18:20:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/novanews.co.za\/vistanews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/8071a32a7118457bb9192142a7723e06.jpg?fit=350%2C202&ssl=1\" \/>\n\t<meta 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Between 20 and 30 foreign national shop owners, mostly Bangladeshi, were kidnapped for ransom in the Goldfields between March and April this year. \u201cThree men were arrested on 21 and 22 May after they threatened two foreign shop owners with kidnapping in the Welkom industrial area,\u201d says Capt.?Stephen Thakeng, SAPS spokesperson.","og_url":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/vistanews\/three-suspected-kidnappers-caught-20220526-2\/","og_site_name":"Vista","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/VistaNewsNuus","article_published_time":"2022-05-26T10:46:38+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-03-20T18:20:44+00:00","og_image":[{"width":350,"height":202,"url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/novanews.co.za\/vistanews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/8071a32a7118457bb9192142a7723e06.jpg?fit=350%2C202&ssl=1","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Alet van der","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Vista","Est. reading time":"1 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