Recent reports reveal that Buffalo City Metro is the epicentre of kidnappings in the Eastern Cape.
The trend has been growing in recent years, usually targeting people in foreign-owned businesses, but recent months have seen a dramatic rise in cases targeting South Africans.
In this episode, Daron Mann speaks to provincial Hawks spokesperson Yolisa Mgolodela about the recent spate of abductions in BCM.
Although most common in Gqeberha and Mthatha, Mgolodela says kidnappings have escalated to East London in recent months, which is a cause for concern for local and foreign business owners.
In the first quarter of 2023, about 184 incidents of kidnapping were reported in the Eastern Cape, with ransom demands amounting to millions of rand asked from families of the victims.
Last Thursday, Pramesh Hooka, owner of Autostyling in Amalinda, was kidnapped by five men who released him in the early hours of Monday after the payment of an undisclosed ransom.
The suspects, who drove off in a light-coloured Toyota Avanza, are still at large.
This happened two weeks after five men kidnapped a business owner in Parkside and dragged him into a light-coloured Toyota Avanza.
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