A man who is alleged to have kidnapped a Pietermaritzburg woman on Thursday has been arrested.
Sources close to the investigation said members of organised crime arrested the man in the Shelly Beach area on the KwaZulu-Natal south coast shortly before 7pm on Sunday.
Police spokesperson Col Thembeka Mbele said a multidisciplinary operation was conducted at Shelly Beach where the man was arrested.
“He was found in a self-catering apartment. He will be charged and will appear in the Pietermaritzburg magistrate's court on Tuesday.”
Sources previously told TimesLIVE that the man had been spotted leaving the drive-through of a fast food outlet and was then arrested.
But it has now emerged that he was followed from there and subsequently arrested.
Shrivani Luksha Madhan Bhola, 28, was reported missing on Thursday after leaving home with a person to look for her dog which had run out of the yard.
Bhola's family raised the alarm when they could not reach her. Her flat in Allandale was unlocked and her cellphone switched off.
A missing person case was changed to kidnapping when CCTV footage appeared to show evidence of a premeditated kidnapping.
One of Bhola's neighbours had allegedly removed personal belongings, including toiletries, clothing, bedding and shoes from their apartment before the kidnapping.
Police suspected that the neighbour was “infatuated” with Bhola.
Bhola was rescued from a lodge in Durban, where she was being held against her will, by members of the Pietermaritzburg crime intelligence unit and Mountain Rise tracing units.
Pietermaritzburg crime intelligence officer Capt Rumen Maistry told TimesLIVE that she was traced to a lodge in a “secluded affluent area” in Durban.
TimesLIVE
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