One of the four men arrested this week in a raid on a house south of Johannesburg when police freed a 20-year-old kidnapping victim, will appear in court on Tuesday for a previous kidnapping case.
On Wednesday, Ahmed Kazi was arrested at a hideaway, then Thokozani Sithole and Khanye Magadla in Elandsfontein, and Abdullah Hassim in another location.
Kazi was out on bail at the time on charges related to the 2022 kidnapping of Lukhman Kazi (not related).
A TimesLIVE Premium security cluster source took part in the investigation leading up to it and the raid. He asked not to be identified for security reasons.
“In this intelligence-led operation we rescued the 20-year-old student Muhammad Bhiko, held in the Elandsfontein house chained to an inside wall,” the satisfied, but tired anti-kidnapping hero told TimesLIVE Premium on Thursday.
Bhiko’s rescue took place a week and a day after he was kidnapped on March 18.
“Investigators analysed security footage and a white Volkswagen Amarok known to us from previous kidnapping investigations, and six other cars were identified as vehicles of interest. This Amarok turned out to be key in Wednesday’s success.”
Most members of the victorious anti-kidnapping team only reached their own homes just before sunrise on Thursday.
“It was a long but satisfying day for our team. Well worth the tiredness,” the source said, grinning.
A few hours after they left Elandsfontein on Thursday, when TimesLIVE Premium arrived, the crime scene was eerily quiet and deserted behind locked gates and an electric fence.
Situated in an isolated part of Elandsfontein and Eikenhof, close to the M1, an unkempt red gravel road connects the property to the nearest tar road about 500m away.
The only other house visible is about 100m away. Two brothers live in it and manage the neighbouring house owned by their mother who lives elsewhere.
The bothers thought it was a huge home invasion when the more than 50-strong, multidisciplinary team of law enforcement and security officers, with air support, swarmed the property next door.
The men, who asked not to be identified, spoke to TimesLIVE Premium on Thursday outside their home.
“We were terrified. We did not know what was happening. We thought it was a huge robbery. As you can see, we are the only other house here. We thought we would be next, so we hid,” one of the brothers said.
“They rented the house from us for two months and paid R11,000 per month. Each time it was time to pay they had some sort of problem with their lost or stolen phone and couldn’t do an EFT, so they paid in cash,” the former kidnappers’ landlords said.
They recognised the four men in pictures supplied by TimesLIVE Premium sources.
“We thought we had tenants and it turned out we had kidnappers. I can’t believe it.”
They did not have much contact.
“We mostly saw them when we drove by and they were smoking outside, but nothing more than that. You can see how far apart the houses are.
“They said they work in construction and were waiting for tools and equipment to start a new project. We are unemployed, so they said they would have construction jobs for us.”
TimesLIVE Premium’s security cluster source said the police arrived at Elandsfontein just before midnight.
“We penetrated the building at midnight. It was a difficult operation because of lack of intel about what the inside looked like. We still did it in about six minutes from initial breech to the victim’s chain being cut.”
Wednesday’s raid consisted of members from:
- SAPS crime intelligence (state and counter security), highway patrol, Johannesburg flying squad, local criminal records centre;
- Johannesburg metro police K9 and undercover units;
- Gauteng traffic police air wing; and
- Vision Tactical, CAP Security, Tracker Connect, Fidelity Security Group and SSG Security.
Kazi was out on bail for the 2022 kidnapping. He and five other accused will appear in the Protea magistrate's court on Tuesday. One of them is Faizal Charloos, who was out on R2m bail.
“This is a major blow to this syndicate. We have been having a lot of successes chasing them down in recent years,” the source said.
This week’s arrests resulted from intelligence work on earlier kidnappings. In 2022 Muhammad Bhiko’s father Yaseen was kidnapped in Lenasia.
“The family negotiated with the kidnappers. Yaseen was released three months later after the family paid ransom,” the security cluster source said.
“A friend of the Bhiko family, Cassim Bobat, did the payment for them. In March last year an attempt was made to kidnap Bobat outside a Mosque in Lenasia. The suspect was driving a white Amarok.”
Two weeks after Bhiko’s 2022 release there was another kidnapping in Lenasia when Lukhman Kazi was taken.
“We met the family and rescued Kazi two days later in Ennerdale near Grassmere, not far from where we rescued Muhammad Bhiko on Wednesday.”
According to the source, during the Kazi rescue operation a suspect pointed out Faizal Charloos as the kingpin.
“Charloos is known to law enforcement for hijackings and theft of motor vehicles. He has been arrested 28 times, but until then had never spent more than two days behind bars,” the source alleged.
“We then went to Charloos’ house in Lenasia extension 11. Inside we found a stolen Hyundai H1, an AK-47 assault rifle and multiple South African and Mozambican passports. There was also R3m in cash plus $24,000 [R437,000] inside a hidden compartment in the kitchen. Total value of assets forfeited after that night is R6.5m”
The money was neatly stacked in shoeboxes.
“The Bhiko family confirmed the money was part of that handed over in shoeboxes as part of Yaseen Bhiko’s ransom.”
“It was after the Charloos raid that Ahmed Khazi was identified as an alleged henchman of Charloos’s and also arrested.”
Meanwhile, the white Amarok kept popping up on the anti-kidnapping team’s radar.
This year when Bhiko junior was kidnapped, intelligence and surveillance led the team to a residential tower block in Sandton.
“The Amarok was parked in a parking bay at the building. The parking bay belongs to a high ranking Mozambican politician,” the source said.
This discovery of the Amarok brought fresh momentum.
“We analysed footage from the area and identified Ahmed Kazi as the driver of the Amarok. Further intelligence led us to a location where he was hiding on Wednesday. He was arrested late in the evening and took the team straight to the house where Muhammad Bhiko was being held.”
According to the TimesLIVE Premium source, Bhiko was unharmed.
“He received a medical assessment on the scene and was released into the care of his family.”
A source close to the family said they were too traumatised to comment.
On Thursday, police spokesperson Col Mavela Masondo said, “the suspects are expected to appear before the magistrate's court soon”.
According to Masondo, the recovered VW Amarok was linked to a hijacking reported in Durban Central, KwaZulu-Natal, in January 2025
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