Durban man nabbed after 'preying' on families of high-profile kidnap victims

After two years on the run, a Durban man has been arrested for allegedly preying on the families of kidnap victims, including the family of slain Sydenham boy Miguel Louw and Durban businesswoman Sandra Munsamy. 

Brandon Moodley, 27, appeared in the Durban magistrate's court on Monday after police arrested him in Lenasia, Gauteng, on June 12. 

National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Natasha Kara said Moodley faced a charge of extortion, related to the Louw matter, and that the state was opposed to bail in the matter.

He is expected back in court on July 22 for a formal bail application. 

Private investigator Brad Nathanson said his office had flagged Moodley in 2017. 

In a Facebook post Nathanson claimed Moodley would trawl the internet looking for missing people, missing pets and missing assets. His alleged modus operandi included claiming that he had the kidnapped person or information relating to their disappearance and would then ask families to pay him a fee to help them.

Moodley allegedly contacted Miguel's mother Raylene Louw on numerous occasions after news of the nine-year-old's disappearance was widely reported on in July 2018. 

Moodley is said to have demanded a R10,000 payment for the exchange of information on Louw's whereabouts.  

The state told the court that apart from the charge linked to the Louw matter, it was also looking into claims Moodley had contacted Munsamy's family.

Munsamy, a key figure in the multibillion-rand Xmoor Transport family business empire,  was allegedly kidnapped by armed men last year, setting in motion a hostage and ransom drama that spanned six months.

Hawks detectives found the businesswoman alive and shackled in a house in Emalahleni, Mpumalanga, in November, 162 days after she disappeared.