[imagesource: Twitter / ntwaagae Seleka]
On Thursday night, Johannesburg police rescued more than 50 young men from a rented Zakariyya Park house, near Lenasia, Gauteng.
Undercover officers from Johannesburg Central police station arrived at the house in unmarked vehicles to rescue the men, reported News24.
Police found the group of trafficked men mostly barefoot, with some of them even found in the ceiling.
It has come to light that these kidnapped men are all Ethiopian nationals, between the ages of 12 and 50, and were being held against their will in the house:
#HumanTrafficking police are still combing the scene where more than 50 young men from Eastern Africa were rescued from a house in Zakarriya Park. It is not known when the victims were brought to the place @TeamNews24 pic.twitter.com/1psSO46t2O
— ntwaagae Seleka (@ntwaagae) October 14, 2021
Police spokesperson Brigadier Brenda Muridili has more via IOL:
“It is reported that these 50 people were brought into South Africa to be reunited with their families living in the country, but on arrival, the person who transported them demanded money from their families before their release,” said Muridili.
Muridili confirmed that one suspect, 49, was arrested and has been charged with kidnapping. He will have to appear in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on Monday.
Muridili said that the police had acted after receiving intelligence information about the kidnapping.
Some lights inside the house were removed to keep the situation in the dark, and away from the prying eyes of neighbours.
But some neighbours could tell that something wasn’t right:
A neighbour, who refused to be identified, told News24 he had always been suspicious of activities happening on the property.
“I used to see various minibus taxis arriving at the property. I thought that a taxi owner had bought the house. In the past few days, I used to see these boys leaving the house at night, jogging.
“They would leave around 21:00 daily and started running around our neighbourhood. I silently followed them to see where they were running to. They ran barefooted,” he said.
During the rescue mission, the victims were loaded into police vehicles to be taken to the police station:
#HumanTrafficking A police vehicle reversing into the home where over 50 young men allegedly trafficked from Eastern Africa were rescued in Zakarriya Park. The owner of the house is nowhere to be found @TeamNews24 pic.twitter.com/mtxoROrr7f
— ntwaagae Seleka (@ntwaagae) October 14, 2021
At the moment it is not known how the men entered the country, but the police are working with Home Affairs to figure it out, along with what their status should be going forward.
Apparently, only some of the families of the kidnapped victims had been informed about the incident.
