30-hour hostage ordeal over

2003-12-23 14:03

Nebo - A woman taken hostage by housebreakers was released after 30 hours of police negotiations, Limpopo police reported on Tuesday.

Inspector Ntobeng Phala said a couple were sleeping at their house in Mabitsi village in the Nebo area when two men broke in on Monday morning.

The men shot open the door to the main bedroom where they tied up the couple with tape and held them for three hours.

They demanded money from the 53-year-old school principal and his 46-year-old wife, a school teacher.

The couple gave them R1 850. The men then took the wife and fled in the couple's bakkie.

The husband alerted police who deployed a task team from Pretoria as well as a dog unit and hostage negotiators.

Police were able to speak to the housebreakers as they had stolen two cellphones from the couple.

R50 000 ransom demanded

Police negotiated with the men for 30 hours in difficult circumstances as it was raining hard and the men were in the bush.

The men demanded R50 000 in exchange for the wife.

At 07:30 on Tuesday, police met the men to hand over the money.

As the exchange was about to take place the men panicked and shot at the police, who shot back.

One kidnapper was shot dead. The other man was critically wounded.

He was taken to a local hospital where he was under police guard.

The woman was not hurt.

Police recovered the bakkie, three cellphones and two firearms. They were investigating a case of armed robbery and kidnapping.

The injured man would appear in the Nebo magistrate's court as soon as he had recovered, said Phala.

- SAPA