Cape Town – Police in Cape Town have reportedly launched a manhunt after a 6-year-old boy was kidnapped on Wednesday morning.
Anti-crime advocate Yusuf Abramjee said in a tweet that little Shanawaaz Asghar was kidnapped by six heavily armed men while on his way to school.
“Police have launched a search,” he said.
Shanawaaz was snatched in front of his 9th Street home in Kensington before 08:00.
IOL quoted a family spokesperson who only identified herself as Ms Joubert, as saying that the boy’s mother was extremely traumatised.
Shanawaz Asghar was kidnapped by six men. They were heavily armed. He was on his way to school- Hidayatul Islamic Primary. Police have launched a search. https://t.co/Gq9krH0Xua
— Yusuf Abramjee (@Abramjee) August 17, 2022
“All the family wants is for him to be returned as soon as possible and unharmed.
“He was grabbed right outside the house as his mother was leaving to take the three children (daughter, aged 11 and the two boys, aged nine and six) to school just around the corner from them within walking distance,” the report quoted Joubert as saying.
The boy is currently in Grade R at the Hidayatul Islam Primary School, the report said.
Official statistics have shown a sharp increase in kidnappings, with 3 306 cases reported in the first three months of 2022, more than double the number from the same period last year.
South Africa’s Police Minister Bheki Cele in June blamed an increase in violent crime in the country – already among the world’s most dangerous – on the “triple challenges of poverty, inequality and unemployment”.
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Composed by Betha Madhomu
Additional reporting by AFP
