A Cape Town businessman who was kidnapped in March has been rescued from his captors in a midnight takedown operation.
Ismail Rajah, 69, was kidnapped outside his business, a construction company, in Parow. Police said he was abducted by two unknown suspects who climbed out of a charcoal-coloured Audi Q7 armed with rifles. The vehicle sped off with him inside.
Police rescued him from a house in Khayelitsha this week.
“Following his kidnapping, a ransom demand was made to his family. It is reported that the family were already en route to Dubai to expedite the ransom payment when the SA police national anti-kidnapping task team was roped in to investigate,” police spokesperson Col Athlenda Mathe said on Thursday.
She said the team immediately mobilised the special task force, organised crime investigators and crime scene experts, and collaborated with private security.
“Just after midnight on Wednesday, the team pounced on an identified address and rescued the victim,” said Mathe.
This is the house in Khayaletsha, Cape Town, where Ismail Rajah (69) was rescued by police & private security. He was kidnapped in Parow in March from his business. Rajah was handcuffed and blindfolded through this captivity. Four suspects have been arrested. No ransom was paid. pic.twitter.com/BIXFdLyzWK
— Yusuf Abramjee (@Abramjee) June 29, 2022
Four men, two Mozambican nationals and two South Africans between the ages of 30 and 38, were arrested.
Police confiscated cellphones and other equipment on suspicion they were used by the suspects during the commission of the crime.
“All four [suspects] are expected to appear before the Parow magistrate's court on Thursday.”
Rajah has been reunited with his family, safe and unharmed.
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