419 kidnap victim rescued
2008-09-28 16:06
Johannesburg - Police arrested seven suspects in the early hours of Sunday morning in connection with the kidnapping of a Japanese businessman in a 419 scam.
The six men and a woman, aged between 28 and 34 years, were directly linked with the two 419 syndicate members arrested on Tuesday last week after kidnapping a Swedish national and attempting to extort ransom from his family, said Director Sally de Beer.
Six of the suspects were Nigerian citizens and one a South African.
In the latest incident, the Japanese national, Osamai Hitomi, 47, was lured to the country under the false impression that he would be engaged in an investment opportunity with a company by the name of Jeffdon Properties.
$5m ransom
"Once he arrived in the country on Friday, September 26 and met with the syndicate members, he was kidnapped and held hostage in a house in Alberton.
"His family was contacted and a ransom of $5 million was demanded," said De Beer.
The police were alerted and a team made up of members of the Johannesburg Organised Crime Unit, the Gauteng Crime Management Centre and the Head Office Crime Intelligence Division, immediately began tracking the victim and the suspects.
"At 04:15 on Sunday morning the team, supported by members of the elite SAPS Special Task Force and National Intervention Unit, swooped on premises in Hillbrow, Kempton Park and Alberton and arrested the seven suspects."
Front company
Documentation linking the suspects to the front company Jeffdon Properties cc, was seized and Hitomi was rescued.
"He had been bound, robbed of his belongings and held hostage at a house in Alberton since Friday," said De Beer.
It was believed that this syndicate could be linked to at least four other kidnapping and extortion cases.
The seven arrested on Sunday would appear in the Kempton Park Magistrate's Court on Tuesday.
"The two arrested earlier in the week are still in custody.
"The SAPS believes that we have cracked this syndicate and closed down their headquarters," said De Beer.
- SAPA