Team in Malawi to retrieve kidnapped SA teens

23 June 2015 - 02:01 By Sipho Masombuka

Two Mpumalanga siblings trafficked to Malawi more than a year ago are expected to be reunited with their grandmother this week, ending their kidnapping ordeal. Interpol and a specialist team from the Department of Social Development's international social services arrived in Malawi yesterday afternoon to fetch them and bring them home.The siblings, a girl, 14, and her brother, 20, were taken from their grandmother's home in Komatipoort in July last year by a woman posing as a teacher who promised them a better education in the UK.Department spokesman Lumka Oliphant said the specialist team was expected to arrive in South Africa with the siblings on Thursday morning.The grandmother only became aware they were in Malawi in October last year, when the brother phoned her.She then opened a missing persons case with the police.International law enforcement agency Interpol eventually managed to track down the woman in Malawi.Oliphant said preliminary investigations indicated that the siblings had been physically abused and exploited.The teenage girl has apparently contracted malaria...

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