Last year South Africans were shaken by the bizarre story of  Amy’Leigh’s  kidnapping.

Then stories on Facebook that a white van was doing the rounds, snatching people up, had your older relatives forwarding it to every chat group like it was their job.

The white van story was a cautionary tale about verifying sources and checking Google before causing unnecessary panic, because, as it turns out, South Africa does have a bit of a kidnapping problem on its hands.

City Press reports,

The police are pressing panic buttons over an exponential increase in high-profile kidnappings for ransom that saw local and international abduction syndicates rake in a fortune worth more than R1 billion last year.

A general in the SA Police Service told City Press this week that the police were overwhelmed by kidnappings for ransom, adding that this was increasingly threatening the country’s national security.

The general, who spoke to City Press on condition of anonymity, said that “despite the threat”, SAPS is not treating these kidnappings as “priority crime”, because most of them go unreported.

“The families of victims never report the crimes as they are threatened not to do so,” the general said.

“In most of the cases, families of victims simply choose to pay the ransom and never involve the police.”

The general also revealed that some of the abduction syndicates allegedly involve police officers, at least 14 of whom have been arrested.

National police spokesperson Vishnu Naidoo confirmed that a number of police officers had been arrested in connection with kidnapping.

“I can confirm, without a fear of contradiction, that a number of police officers have been arrested for colluding with kidnappers,” he said.

Naidoo could not confirm the exact number of police arrested in connection with kidnappings.

“We know that people are being kidnapped and that the kidnappers are demanding millions in ransom money, but we do not have any figures as to how many people have been kidnapped. Even if we had the figures, I cannot give them to you because there is a moratorium on the release of crime statistics.”

Back to the general for the modus operandi used by kidnappers.

“This is how it works: People who are in South Africa arrange fraudulent documents for people in Asia to travel to South Africa from Zimbabwe, Swaziland and Mozambique. As soon as they cross the border, they are flagged and stopped by the police. That is how they get kidnapped. The abductors contact their families in Asia, demanding a ransom for their release.”

To read the full report, go here.

SAPS is describing the syndicates as highly organised and sophisticated.

Chilling stuff.

[source:citypress]