Rescued businessman tells of kidnap ordeal

SCENE: Mustapha's Food Town store in Lotus River

SCENE: Mustapha's Food Town store in Lotus River

Published Dec 8, 2016

Share

Cape Town – A Bangladeshi businessman who was kidnapped said he survived on water for 48 hours after his captors offered him pork to eat.

Mustapha Goolam, 38, said he is Muslim and refused to give in to the taunts of his abductors.

The shopowner was rescued by a police Crack Unit after he was snatched outside his store in Grassy Park on Sunday.

Detectives found him handcuffed, badly bruised and hungry inside a room of a house in Kuyasa, Khayelitsha, shortly after 6pm on Tuesday evening.

Three suspects, two Pakistani nationals aged 27 and 29 and a South African male, 28, were arrested.

Captain FC Van Wyk say they are expected to appear at the Wynberg Magistrates’ Court on Friday on a charge of kidnapping.

Sources close to the investigation say the arrests represent a blow to a kidnapping syndicate targeting rich foreign businessmen in Cape Town.

Mustapha owns seven shops on the Cape Flats, and has three children, aged eight, four and three months old.

On Wednesday, in an exclusive interview with the Daily Voice, he shared details of his two-day ordeal.

His Lotus River house was crammed with concerned male relatives and several policemen investigating the case.

Police said he was not allowed to reveal details about the snatching as it may hinder their investigation.

Mustapha was kidnapped outside of his Food Town shop in Lotus River while locking up at about 9pm.

Two men bundled him into a gold Toyota Corolla.

He says the kidnappers forced him to give his family’s cellphone number.

They called his relatives demanding a R10-million ransom.

When they thought he was refusing to co-operate, they beat him.

Showing swelling on his face and bruises on his hands where the handcuffs chafed him, Mustapha said he never thought he would survive.

“Look at my face, they beat me in the face, they said I gave the wrong telephone number,” he said.

“They gave me a couple of smacks.”

He says his Pakistani kidnappers also taunted him, offering to buy him pork.

When he refused, they let him go hungry, only giving him water.

“They were joking, so what are you going to eat, then they would say I am going to buy for you pork,” the Muslim man explained.

“I said no, no, I don’t do pork, I eat halaal things.”

“I just drank water.”

Mustapha says he was shocked when police swooped on the house on Tuesday.

“I could not believe it was the police until I saw their uniform,” he says.

“I think all the time, this will be the last time for me.

“But when the police came, it was an unbelievable moment, I thought the police would never find me, there are thousands of houses and they all look the same.”

He adds: “This is 15 years I am here in South Africa, I am a citizen now.

“This is an excellent, world-class service of the police.”

Mustapha’s kidnapping had startling similarities to that of businessman, Naushad Deshmukh Khan, 46, who was abducted outside his clothing shop Khans, in Haji Ebrahim Crescent, Athlone, by five men last month.

Khan called home a few days later, telling his family his kidnappers demanded £20 million (R338 million) for his safe return.

The businessman is yet to be found.

While he wouldn’t comment on Khan’s case, Hanif Loonat, the Cluster Chairperson of the Mitchells Plain Community Policing Forum, said he believed they are one step closer to uncovering the kidnapping syndicate.

“This is an ongoing investigation which hasn’t ended, we are of the view that there is more, and according to information we got, there are many others involved,” he said.

“There is a chance we can link these to other kidnappings, there are similarities and patterns.

“And there were things that were shared, we are confident it will link us to other kidnappings.”

Daily Voice

Related Topics: