Cops are on the hunt for four men who kidnapped a 21-year-old man from his family’s business.
The incident took place on Friday night at their home in Newfields, Hanover Park, where the family runs the Huzaifa Takeaways.
Huzaifa Sange, who is from India, has been living in Cape Town for the past seven years with his brother, Usaina, and sister-in-law, Munazia, and helps run the family business.
Munazia told Weekend Argus the men, who posed as customers wanting to buy food, stormed into their house demanding money.
“They said someone sent them to fetch money. They wanted to know where the safe was, but there isn’t a safe,”she says
Munazia said she had been putting her five-month-old baby to sleep when she heard her husband scream in the lounge.
“They told me not to scream and put the gun against my baby’s head. They said they would shoot her if I did, so I stayed quiet.”
She says the men held them at gunpoint and two ransacked the house for valuables.
“They took everything, cellphones, every cent, clothes, even my baby’s nappies, wet wipes and baby bag. They even took the tikka chicken and chips.”
Munazia said the men, who appeared to be in their late twenties and were well dressed, stole their car and made off with Huzaifa.
“I don’t understand why they took him when it is my husband who owns the takeaway. It could be because the shop’s name is the same as Huzaifa’s and that he had money in his pockets from the proceeds of the day.”
Munazia said they had yet to receive a ransom demand.
“Huzaifa hardly speaks English and doesn’t know the area very well. We are worried sick,” she added.
Police spokesperson Captain FC van Wyk said Philippi SAPS registered a case of house robbery and kidnapping for investigation.
“They fled the scene with the family’s white Hyundai and a 21-year-old male in an unknown direction and are yet to be arrested,” he said.
Weekend Argus