The arrest of four Bangladeshi nationals in a series of police raids across SA has exposed a transnational kidnapping syndicate operating in the country.
The four have been charged with the kidnapping and murder of Bangladeshi businessman Reza ul Amin Moola, 29, who was snatched from his shop in Kwaggafontein, Mpumalanga on December 16.
The SAPS are now helping their Bangladeshi counterparts, the Dhaka Metropolitan Police, hunt for the masterminds of the syndicate who operate in that country.
A Sunday Times Daily source, with knowledge of the investigation, says the syndicate is allegedly behind the orchestration of the kidnapping of at least four Bangladesh businessmen in Gauteng and Eastern Cape since 2020.
“This syndicate is huge. The people behind it are particularly brutal and are not afraid to torture, maim and kill their victims,” he said.
The four suspects were arrested on Friday and Sunday in Komani (Queenstown) in the Eastern Cape and Vanderbijlpark in Gauteng by a team of police officers fighting an increasingly deadly scourge of kidnappings.
On Friday, Mpumalanga and Komani detectives, acting on information from crime intelligence officers, arrested 27-year-old Mohammed “Shihaab” Rahman and 26-year-old Mohammed “Sha” Alamin at a hospital in the town.
Rahman and Alamin appeared in the Mkobola magistrate’s court in Kwaggafontein on Tuesday. They were not asked to plead and were remanded.
The two, according to police sources, were arrested in hospital where they were admitted after they were allegedly assaulted while apparently trying to kidnap a Bangladeshi businessman in KwaBhaca (Mount Frere) last week.
Their arrest follows a month-long search for Moolah.
Sunday Times Daily sources say his kidnappers allegedly demanded that his family, who live in Bangladesh, pay a R300,000 (1.5-million Bangladeshi Taka) ransom for his release.
The ransom was to have been paid to the syndicate in Bangladesh.
A police source said on December 23 Moola’s family received the first ransom call.
“The call was made from SA. Videos were also sent to them. The videos were of Moolah, naked and tied up and gagged with masking tape, being tortured.”
The source said on December 28 police raided a house in the Vaal area and questioned a man who led officers to a house in Bophelong near Vanderbijlpark.
“At the house police seized several cellphones containing voice recordings of Moolah pleading for his family to pay the ransom. They had not yet been sent to his family.”
Little did the police know that Moolah had already been killed. The motive for the murder is still unclear.
The source said through intelligence networks officers gathered information on other syndicate members in SA and Bangladesh.
“The Bangladesh Rapid Action Bureau was alerted to the kidnapping. They helped the family with negotiations with the kidnappers.
“While they were assisting the family, intelligence was gathered from informants, which led detectives on Friday to Komani and Cacadu where the first two suspects were arrested.”
While they were assisting the family, intelligence was gathered from informants, which led detectives on Friday to Komani and Cacadu where the first two suspects were arrested.
He said on Saturday the arrested suspects revealed the identity of their accomplices, who were arrested on Sunday at a house in Bophelong and at a petrol station in Vanderbijlpark.
“When police raided the Bophelong house they recovered a green SsangYong bakkie allegedly used in the kidnapping.
“They also pointed out where they had allegedly held Moolah as well as where they allegedly murdered him and dumped his body.
“Sadly for the past month, while negotiating with the kidnappers, the family were led to believe that Moolah was still alive. It turns out that he was killed on December 26, just two days before police raided the house in the Vaal.”
He said that unbeknown to investigators, on December 30 Vanderbijpark police had found the decomposed body of an unknown man, who had been wrapped in a blanket and set alight in Bophelong.
“It is believed that is Moola’s body.”
The source said all four suspects were wanted in connection with the kidnapping of at least four other Bangladeshi businessmen in Brakpan, Kempton Park, Pretoria and Komani.
National police spokesperson Lt Col Robert Netshiunda confirmed that the burnt body of an unknown man had been found in December by Vanderbijlpark police.
“The body was found at the same spot where the suspects took police to this week when they pointed out where they allegedly wrapped Moolah in a blanket, doused him with petrol and set him alight. While on the scene police found a piece of blanket which Moolah was allegedly wrapped in.”
He said Rahman and Alamin, and their two alleged accomplices, had been charged with kidnapping and murder.
“Rahman and Alamin, who have confessed to kidnapping Moolah in Kwaggafontein and later killing him in Bophelong, were arrested in hospital.
“They were in hospital after they were assaulted by members of the community when they allegedly attempted to kidnap another person.”
He said Rahman and Alamin’s court case had been postponed to January 25 so they could enlist lawyers.
Netshiunda said their two alleged accomplices would appear in Mkobola magistrate’s court on Thursday.
Asked about the seized cellphones and voice messages and videos which they allegedly contained, Nesthiunda declined to elaborate.
He also declined to elaborate on whether any investigations were being done with the Bangladeshi authorities.
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