By Juggie Naran
On Tuesday, it will be exactly a year since Rashid Khalid was abducted in Estcourt, never to be seen again.
It was an event that had all the hallmarks of a spy thriller.
On October 31, members of the town's small Muslim community, who were observing Ramadan, were preparing to have supper after breaking their daily fast.
It was about 10pm and they had just returned from their evening prayers at the mosque.
Suddenly the silence of the night was broken. Several luxury vehicles screeched to a halt in front of a home in Canna Avenue, Forderville. About 10 heavily armed men jumped out of the cars, which had false number plates.
Continues Below ↓
They kicked open the door of an outbuilding and barged in. Inside two men screamed as the raiders turned the place upside down.
A small crowd gathered outside as the owner, Mohammed Bayat, plucked up the courage to ask what was happening. The men, some with a British accent, pointed a rifle at him. He was told if he knew what was good for him, he would go back into his house.
A police van stopped to make inquiries. They, too, were told by the mystery men to move on.
Two hooded men were then dragged out of the building and pushed into two vehicles and driven away.
Pakistani national Khalid Mehmood Rashid and his room-mate, Moulana Mohammed Ebrahim Jeebhai, 29, were driven to an unknown destination.
After 15 days Jeebhai was found at the Lindela detention centre, from where he was about to be deported. He had been detained at the Cullinan Police Station near Pretoria.
Jeebhai managed to get hold of a cellphone, and SMSed his brother, Ismail Ebrahim Jeebhai. The brother hired attorney Zehir Omar, who took the matter to the Pretoria High Court and secured Jeebhai's release on November 15.
The court also ordered the minister of home affairs to disclose the whereabouts of Rashid.
Continues...
|
StumbleUpon
Reddit
Digg
Delicious
Newsvine
Facebook
muti
Twitter
