Four men who kidnapped a Cape Flats shopkeeper in broad daylight and demanded R100 000 ransom money made a brief appearance in court on Monday.
The suspects were nabbed after they demanded more money from his family and he was rescued on Friday.
The 25-year-old Bangladeshi man was snatched outside his store in Kalksteenfontein on Wednesday.
Police spokesperson Sergeant Wesley Twigg said the four appeared at the Bishop Lavis Magistrates’ Court on charges of kidnapping and extortion.
The matter was postponed to 13 January when they will launch a bail application.
In security footage, the victim is seen walking towards his car when an assailant runs up to him and grabs him.
A white VW Polo pulls up and more men jump out of the car and a struggle ensues.
The kidnappers beat the victim and bundle him into the car before speeding off, while shocked residents stand by and watch.
The victim’s brother, 35, said shortly afterwards, they received a phone call from the kidnappers demanding a R300 000 ransom.
“I told them I don’t have that much money.
“But said I could bring R50 000 to them,” he told the Weekend Argus.
“He then said no, he will settle for R100 000, and I agreed, because at that stage I didn’t care about the money, just my brother’s safety.”
He says he arranged to meet the kidnappers the following day, but was sent on a wild goose chase instead.
The brother says he was supposed to meet the abductor at the Caltex near the airport, but when he got there, he was told to drive down the N2 towards the R300.
“When I got to the bridge going to Mitchells Plain, he told me to throw the money out of the car and he would phone me again after 20 minutes to tell me where to find my brother.”
But when the skelms called, they demanded R300 000 instead and hung up.
Meanwhile, cops were already on the case after the owner of the property where the shop is based saw the kidnapping and called the police.
They used the brother’s cellphone to track the whereabouts of the perpetrators and in a joint operation rescued the victim and arrested the kidnappers on Friday.
The victim’s brother told the Weekend Argus that he was beaten and his feet burnt with hot plastic.
He said the R100 000 was not recovered.
Weekend Argus