Durban - Seven suspects have been arrested after a KZN teenager was kidnapped nearly two weeks ago while driving home from school.
The teenager has been reunited with his family after he was found in Umzinto on the KZN South Coast on Monday.
Police have since arrested at least seven men, aged between 25 and 41.
According to reports, one of the accused is a police officer while the other is a traffic officer.
Hawks provincial spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Simphiwe Mhlongo, said Abdul Mateen Khalid had been driving along Brixham Road at Raisethorpe in Pietermaritzburg when he was stopped by the suspects who pretended to be police officers.
They took him out of his vehicle and fled the scene. The suspects later demanded R11.5m from the family.
Mhlongo said a case of kidnapping was reported at Mountain Rise police station and the case docket was allocated to the Hawks for intensive investigation.
"On Thursday, June 1, Hawks members from Pietermaritzburg and Durban together with Crime Intelligence as well as private security companies arrested two suspects at Brookside Mall in Pietermaritzburg. They found a vehicle that was used in the commission of the crime.“
They are expected to appear in the Pietermaritzburg Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday.
Mhlongo said the first two suspects briefly appeared in the Pietermaritzburg Magistrate Court on Monday and were remanded in custody.
They will reappear in the same court on June 13 for a bail application. The investigation continues.
IOL