Missing women likely held for money

KwaZulu Natal - Police believe that 11 women, who are allegedly being held captive in a container and repeatedly raped in northern KwaZulu-Natal, are victims of kidnappers as opposed to human traffickers.

SAPS provincial spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Vincent Mdunge said while there has been speculation that the alleged group kidnapping could be part of a human trafficking operation, he said police suspicion remains “very strong” that it’s kidnapping to get ransom money from families and not a slavery ring.

The Provincial Tracking Team and the National Intervention Unit have been called up and along with other police teams, are combing northern KZN in a desperate search for the 11 women. This follows the rescue on Wednesday of an Nkandla woman, who claimed she was held in the container with other women for 15 days, after being kidnapped when she took a taxi from Eshowe.

Mdunge said the investigating team was following possible leads, but as yet had made no arrests “or possible identification of the other women who may be being held”. He added that the rescued woman had been reunited with her parents and had returned home.

Mdunge says according to the victim, the driver drove into sugar-cane fields, where two women were repeatedly raped by the four men.

The two women were taken in a black Toyota Corolla into a dwelling and raped again.

He said the other woman tried to fight back and was shot and killed. The other victim was taken in a truck to an unknown location where she was locked in a container with four other women. The woman said six more victims were put into the container on Tuesday.

Independent on Saturday