Two men have been arrested following allegations that they used a dating app to lure men in Pietermaritzburg to an abandoned house in Scottsville, where the victims were assaulted and robbed.
Colin David, director of Mi7 National Group, said on Wednesday, December 24, that several cases had been opened at police stations in Pietermaritzburg over the past two months.
“The victims, all men, described the same modus operandi. They would communicate with an individual via a popular dating app. The individual would lure them to an address in Scottsville. When the victim arrived, they were confronted by between five and seven suspects and forced into the premises, an abandoned building,” he said.
“They were held in a room, assaulted at gunpoint and made to empty their bank accounts via their mobile banking apps, either through an e-wallet or to a bank account.”
David said a breakthrough came last week when one victim was able to provide banking records showing the ATM from which the funds were withdrawn and the time of the transaction.
“This led Alexandra Road police station detectives to Scottsville Mall, where they were able to source CCTV footage of the suspects and their vehicle. Mi7 teams loaded the vehicle details onto the Mi7 Surveillance Net, a network of more than 150 camera systems equipped with automatic number plate recognition software, casting a net over Pietermaritzburg and the midlands.
“On Sunday the VW Polo was flagged in the Scottsville area. This led to a wide-scale search involving police teams, Mi7 teams and their counterparts from another security company,” he said.
The vehicle was later spotted and stopped on Oribi Road, where two suspects were found inside. “Two suspects were inside, one in possession of a firearm with live ammunition.”
Investigators subsequently returned to the abandoned building where the crimes were allegedly committed. “They found more live ammunition, more than 40 car keys, half a dozen vehicle ignitions, a computer box for a vehicle, an alarm modem and gate remote controls.”
David said investigations were continuing, adding that the suspects were believed to be linked to other crimes. He also noted that authorities believed there were additional victims, some of whom may not have reported the incidents due to fear of stigma.
