A man who attempted to extort money from his family has been arrested for staging his own fake kidnapping.
Police spokesperson Frederick van Wyk said the 25-year-old man is currently detained at the Philippi East police station and will make a court appearance on Friday.
“The Western Cape multi-disciplinary kidnapping task team arrested a suspect on charges of allegedly staging his own kidnapping. On (January 2) a foreign national man reported his brother as kidnapped after receiving a message from an anonymous telephone number.
“According to reports, at approximately 5.30am the complainant left his residence at David Venda Street, Betterlife, Philippi East to go to work, leaving his brother who was supposed to go and deposit rent money at Shoprite for the premises they are residing at.
“It’s alleged that the complainant’s cellular telephone was off and when he switched it on at about 6pm he found a message indicating that his brother had been kidnapped and the suspects were demanding a ransom amount between R4 000 and R5 000 for his safe return,” Van Wyk said in a statement.
They also said they had taken the money and the cellphone of the captive and that they were in the Khayelitsha area, he added.
Later that day, Van Wyk said, the wife of the complainant also received a message from a different number saying she must deposit the requested amount to this number.
“Reports reveal that the brother never returned home on January 2 and the ransom demand amount was increased to R15 000. On January 9, the family decided on the R15 000 ransom demand and made the payment via e-wallet.
“On January 10, in the afternoon, the captive came back home and admitted that he and his friend had staged the kidnapping as they wanted to extort money from his family.
“He further stated that he had used the rent money for gambling,” Van Wyk said.
The suspect will appear in the Athlone Magistrate’s Court on Friday.
Cape Times