[imagesource:here]

Lisette Lombard, a finance journalist living in Cape Town, was out running with her Jack Russel on Table Mountain this past Saturday when things took a frightening turn.

She was running towards Rhodes Memorial with her 12-year-old dog Jolie not too far behind her when the dog suddenly went missing.

She searched in the bushes for three hours from the time that Jolie went missing, which was at 11AM, only to eventually receive a disturbing call.

It turns out a gang of alleged dog-nappers had taken Jolie and were demanding R500 in cash for her safe return, per IOL.

The alleged dog-nappers had got a hold of Lombard after finding her contact details on the dog’s collar tag.

Lombard tweeted about the incident:

My dog was kidnapped from Table mountain today by a syndicate. I was held randsom for a reward. She was literally only about 20m behind me and when I looked again she was gone. Luckily with the police in Kirstenhof we managed to get her back tonight @TableMountainNP @CityofCT 🙏🏼 pic.twitter.com/AADhPL9vcG

— Lisette Lombard (@LisLombard) October 9, 2021

Negotiations took place about where to meet for the exchange, with the kidnappers wanting to meet as close to Belville as possible.

But they agreed to meet at 7PM that day at the Blue Route Mall in Tokai, where Lombard brought the police to keep an eye out in unmarked cars.

Four men arrived in a Mazda Etude at the mall, where one man stepped out of their car, apparently with a glass bottle, and demanded the money.

Finally, Lombard was reunited with Jolie, who she said had been quite dehydrated.

Police spokesperson Brigadier Novela Potelwa said that they didn’t arrest the men because a report from the police officials in question “does not suggest a crime took place during this period.”

Lombard is warning everyone to be vigilant around Table Mountain because there could be a syndicate of dog kidnappers operating in the area, reported News24:

“The police told me that they heard unconfirmed reports that this syndicate of dog kidnappers pay vagrants to steal dogs and hand over to them, so they can ask for ransom,” said Lombard.

Meanwhile, the manager at South African National Parks (SANParks) said they were not aware of this sort of thing happening.

Likewise, Potelwa said the South African Police Service (SAPS) needed to first investigate the allegations that a dog kidnapping syndicate was operating in Cape Town.

Anyway, it won’t hurt to keep an extra eye out.

[sources:iol&news24]