Kidnapped Ottawa scrap yard owner back home after ransom is paid

People embrace one another after a kidnapped scrap yard dealer and a staff member returned home safely. Picture by Reaction Unit South Africa.

People embrace one another after a kidnapped scrap yard dealer and a staff member returned home safely. Picture by Reaction Unit South Africa.

Published Jul 30, 2019

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Durban - A scrap yard owner and his employee told police that they were restrained with cable ties, burnt with pieces of plastic and tortured after they were kidnapped from Ottawa, north of Durban, on Monday. 

The men were allegedly kidnapped during a robbery at their scrap yard n Pinewood Road. 

Dawood Safla,44, and his employee Shafee were later found after their families allegedly paid the kidnappers a ransom fee. 

Prem Balram, of private security company Reaction Unit South Africa (RUSA), said three men entered the scrap yard brandishing firearms. 

“Staff managed to lock a security gate preventing the gunmen from entering. The gunmen then allegedly forced both men into his Toyota Hilux bakkie and sped off,”he said. 

Shafee was employed as a welder at the business. 

Balram said Verulam SAPS and RUSA tracked and recovered the bakkie abandoned on an unpaved road in Inanda. However, the victims could not be located.

“The gunmen made contact with Safla's family and demanded a ransom for both men's release. The money was then paid. The amount is yet to be disclosed. I am not sure what method was used to pay the gunmen,” Balram said. 

Several law enforcement agencies which included private security and Police, as well as relatives of the missing men and members of the public, searched for the kidnap victims who were eventually located on Inanda Road. 

“The two explained that they were allegedly tortured and burnt with pieces of plastic while being held captive. The victims were restrained with cable ties. The suspects threatened to murder them if the ransom was not paid,” Balram said. 

Colonel Thembeka Mbele, a KwaZulu-Natal police spokesperson, said a 46-year-old man was at his business premises in Pinewood Road, Ottawa with his employees when they were allegedly accosted by two men carrying hand guns. 

"The suspects robbed him of his bakkie and he was also taken. The vehicle was later recovered near Buffelsdraai and the victim was found at Amaoti unharmed. A case of carjacking and kidnapping was opened at Verulam police station for investigation,"Mbele said.

While Safla and Shafee are back home and safe there is still no sign of Durban businesswoman Sandra Moonsamy,45, who was kidnapped near the M13 and Stapleton Road intersection, in Pinetown in May. Moonsamy is the financial director of Crossmoor Transport Plant and mother of two children. 

She was allegedly taken by gunmen from her car. Police have arrested Jerry Ogbuwany Gike, 35, a hairdressing salon owner for being in possession of Moonsamy’s phone. He is facing charges of theft in the Durban Magistrate's Court. 

Gike is expected to make a bid for bail next Wednesday. 

Daily News

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