Load-shedding and privacy laws benefit kidnapping syndicates

Kidnapping-for-ransom syndicates are using load-shedding and exploiting privacy laws to get a head start on police investigators by orchestrating kidnappings at weekends.

In one case in Cape Town, two Thai nationals were kidnapped in Mowbray on a Friday evening in December during load-shedding. Their release in Khayelitsha a few days later also coincided with load-shedding. One of the victims was severely tortured by the suspects and eventually succumbed to his injuries in hospital.

Western Cape police spokesperson Warrant Officer Joseph Swartbooi said the three suspects who were arrested in the case now also face a charge of murder. 

TimesLIVE Investigations has established from law enforcement sources that the syndicates used load-shedding to great effect as they planned their routes along lengthy stretches of road, which in the dark would clearly reveal any pursuers, especially those travelling in convoys. The cover of darkness makes evasion much easier especially when the kidnappers approach informal settlements where they keep their victims. Load-shedding can also disrupt CCTV cameras and other electronic infrastructure. 

Weekend kidnappings are a common modus operandi. 

Police investigators claim this is because the kidnappers know that in order for the police to monitor their communications they have to acquire “section 205” applications that allow the police to legally intercept communications on a specific SIM card.  

The application has to be served before a judge, magistrate or special prosecutor, all of whom are rarely available at weekends or after hours.  Further complicating the section 205 process is that such an application has to be made in the area where the crime was committed.

Additionally, according to the sources, the applications have to be served on a cellphone service provider, most of which don’t have corporate offices open at weekends with technicians available to check the communications. 

Despite these challenges, a joint police and Hawks kidnapping task team set up in the Western Cape in October has had remarkable success. 

Since the task team was formed it has investigated five kidnapping-for-ransom cases, four of which led to the arrests of the alleged perpetrators. 

The arrest of a sixth person on Thursday afternoon by the task team in connection with the double kidnapping of two Bangladeshi nationals in the Cape Town suburb of Delft on January 21 brought the total number of arrests relating to kidnapping-ransom cases in the Western Cape to 19 since October. 

The cases in which the task team made arrests in the Western Cape since October include:

• two arrests for a November kidnapping in which a Zimbabwean and a South African who ran a hair-selling business were kidnapped in Delft and held for ransom;
• eight arrests for the November kidnapping of an eight-year-old Athlone girl in which a substantial ransom demand was made for her release; 
• three arrests, including a SAPS member, for the December kidnapping of two Thai nationals in Mowbray near the Cape Town city centre. Ransoms were demanded by the suspects who severely tortured their victims, one of whom died after he was rescued;
• six arrests, including two SAPS members, for the January kidnapping of two Bangladeshis from Delft. A ransom was demanded and the victims were tortured but were rescued by police a day after being taken. 

The only kidnapping-for-ransom case on which the team did not make an arrest was the October kidnapping of a Chinese woman from the shop where she worked in Stikland.

The team was still being constituted at the time and wasn’t fully operational. 

TimesLIVE Investigations understands that the kidnappers severely tortured the victim, who was eventually released. 

Sources said they learnt from the Mowbray kidnapping that the cover of darkness provided by load-shedding helped the kidnappers — they had pre-planned routes that included lengthy stretches of road on which headlights could be spotted from far. 

“The traffic also seems to be less when there’s load-shedding late at night, so they can easily see who is after them,” said a source. 

Trying to catch the kidnappers too early can be deadly for the victims. Investigators might have a positive lead on the locations of some of the suspects in a syndicate, but that does not guarantee the victim will be there when the cops strike. 

“They go onto roads where they can see far. If the police follow them, the suspects can disappear into the shacks,” said a source. When the suspects become aware they’re being followed, the cat-and-mouse game begins, and it becomes a race against time.

According to sources interviewed by TimesLIVE Investigations, it is thought that the kidnappers have been given legal advice regarding the process police have to go through to obtain section 205 applications. 

From the moment the victim is taken the kidnappers regularly change sim cards and phones which are not registered to their names. 

The “pre-rica’d” sim cards, so named because they are preregistered onto random identities in flagrant abuse of the Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communication-related Information Act, have created a barrier for the authorities and a loophole for the criminals. 

The sim cards are available in nearly every corner store around the country, and the registration process applies only to citizens who feel inclined to abide by the laws. 

In order for investigators to intercept communications on these pre-rica’d simcards they have to bring an application before a magistrate for every single number they wish to intercept. There are no prescripts in law that allow them to apply for blanket applications to intercept communications as they see fit. 

Sources said kidnappings tend to happen from Thursday nights and into the weekend. This can give the kidnappers a 48-hour head start before police are able to get positive leads on their communications. 

* This article was produced in conjunction with the Henry Nxumalo Foundation