Kidnapped Businessman Rescued as SAPS Task Team Fatally Confronts Wanted Mozambican Kingpin

Kempton Park – The South African Police Service (SAPS) anti-kidnapping task team has successfully rescued a kidnapped businessman and reunited him with his family, following a deadly confrontation with a wanted kidnapping mastermind.

The businessman, of Indian descent, was discovered in a shack in Alexandra shortly after midnight on Thursday, 4 September 2025. His release came after an armed exchange between police and the alleged orchestrator of the kidnapping near the R21 in Kempton Park on Wednesday evening.

The suspect, known by the alias “Dollarman”, was fatally wounded during the confrontation. According to SAPS, he was a notorious kidnapping kingpin wanted in both South Africa and Mozambique. He featured on Mozambique’s SERNIC wanted persons database for multiple cases of kidnapping for ransom.

In South Africa, authorities had linked him to at least five kidnapping-for-ransom incidents, as well as crimes including housebreaking, carjacking, and possession of unlicensed firearms.

SAPS emphasised that the operation formed part of a broader, ongoing clampdown on organised crime. Since July 2021, the national anti-kidnapping task team has arrested over 337 suspects and seized more than 146 illegal firearms during crime scene interventions.

The latest breakthrough also coincides with Operation Shanela, SAPS’ nationwide crime-prevention initiative. Within the past week alone, police arrested more than 14,773 suspects for offences ranging from murder to rape, and confiscated at least 163 illegal firearms.

Brigadier Athlenda Mathe, SAPS national spokesperson, confirmed the outcome of the operation and reiterated the police’s commitment to dismantling kidnapping syndicates that target businesspeople and families across the region.