Cops still searching for missing 'sex slave'
2012-03-16 22:07
Bloemfontein - A Lesotho woman who was apparently kidnapped by illegal miners and used as a sex slave underground in Welkom is still missing, police said on Friday.
Spokesperson Captain Stephen Thakeng said a police task team was working all-out to find the woman who disappeared near Welkom's Number 1 mine on Saturday March 10.
Police said four women visited their boyfriends at Welkom's Number 1 Mine on the Saturday night.
During the night, the women were apparently kidnapped by a group of Lesotho nationals, working as illegal miners in the Welkom area.
In the mining industry illegal miners are referred to as Zama-Zamas.
Thakeng said three of the women managed to escape, but a 28-year-old woman was caught again and apparently forced to a nearby open field.
The woman’s clothes, including underwear, worn on the night of her disappearance, were found in the field on the Sunday.
Thakeng said a family member of the missing woman contacted police and Lesotho government officials with the allegation that women were used as sex slaves underground in Welkom by Zama-Zamas.
Thakeng said anyone with information to help trace the kidnapped woman should contact police at the Welkom detective services office.
- SAPA