Cape Town - Businessman Liaqat Parker has been kidnapped from his offices in N1 City. The property businessman was kidnapped in the early hours of Monday morning.
Parker is a prominent figure in business and Liaqat Parker, the founder member of the Foodprop Group, which owns the Foodworld chain of supermarkets. He and his brother Rashied are partners in the company called FPG Property Fund.
Police have confirmed the kidnapping, but are unable to provide further details at this time.
This is the latest kidnapping of prominent businessmen in Cape Town in recent years.
Sadeck Zhaun Ahmed, the owner of Zhauns Business Opportunity Machines, was kidnapped in July last year outside his business in Victoria Road, Salt River. Ahmed was allegedly abducted by four men. He was eventually returned to his family in October last year.
According to his family, Ahmed was blindfolded all the time and does not know where he was held nor who his abductors were. The family said no ransom was paid and that Ahmed was released "as his abductors were concerned about consequences of his deteriorating health".
In 2016 prominent businessman Naushad Deshmukh Khan was allegedly kidnapped outside his business in Athlone. Khan, the owner of Eastern wear clothing store Khan's, in Hadji Ebrahim Crescent, was apparently abducted on November 1, 2016, by five armed men. Two months later, the businessman was dropped off in Thornton and went to knock at someone’s door.
After Khan's return, his family apparently closed ranks while police were also tight-lipped about the investigation.
The other kidnapped businessman was Bangladeshi businessman Mustapha Goolam. In 2016 Goolam's kidnappers demanded a R10 million ransom for his safe return. Three men were arrested after police traced Goolam, 38, to a house in Khayelitsha.