Police arrest three who abducted elderly woman

The Makhado police arrested three suspects at Makhado Crossing in Louis Trichardt on Monday on charges ranging from impersonating a police officer to robbery.

According to a police report, a 62-year-old woman was abducted in Mokopane while on her way to collect her SASSA grant at around 08:00. On her way there, she was confronted by two African males who pretended to be police officers from the Mokopane SAPS.

The two males forced the elderly woman back into her own vehicle and instructed her to drive to her residential property to collect her bank cards. Back at her home, the woman got her handbag, and she was driven back to Mokopane.

“But to her surprise, she saw the driver passing Polokwane, taking the N1 road to Louis Trichardt. The victim then asked the driver where they were going and she was told that they were going to the police headquarters,” states the police report.

When the suspects arrived in Louis Trichardt with the woman, one of the men took her cellphone while the other two men ordered the woman to go into a bank at Makhado Crossing and withdraw R60 000 from her account. “The victim went inside the bank and she explained everything to the person who was supposed to assist her. That person then informed the police, who immediately rushed to the bank and managed to arrest three suspects,” states the report.

At the time of our going to press, the police were still busy with their investigation. Whether the suspects had appeared in court already was unclear.

Date:06 May 2021

By: Andries van Zyl

Andries joined the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror in April 1993 as a darkroom assistant. Within a couple of months he moved over to the production side of the newspaper and eventually doubled as a reporter. In 1995 he left the newspaper group and travelled overseas for a couple of months. In 1996, Andries rejoined the Zoutpansberger as a reporter. In August 2002, he was appointed as News Editor of the Zoutpansberger, a position he holds until today.

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