CRIME CRISIS
BA pilot kidnapped and robbed while shopping near Joburg’s Melrose Arch
A BA pilot was kidnapped during a Johannesburg stopover between flights. This is the second criminal incident involving the airline’s staff in six months.
Police have launched a manhunt for unknown suspects who kidnapped and robbed a British pilot on Monday in the Melrose Arch area.
The pilot from British Airways was abducted during a stopover between flights in Johannesburg. He was shopping at BluBird Shopping Centre at the time of the attack.
Read more in Daily Maverick: Coastal concerns
According to MailOnline, British Airways deters staff from venturing into high-crime areas of Johannesburg, however, the pilot’s crew who were staying in Melrose Arch had been led to believe that the area was supposed to be the safest part of the city.
According to national police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe, a woman approached the pilot at BluBird Shopping Centre asking for assistance with her bags to her car.
“When they got to the car he was accosted by armed men who kidnapped him, held him captive and cleaned out his bank account,” Mathe said.
Specific details remain unclear and police have yet to disclose how and when the kidnappers released the pilot.
International tabloid media reported that the pilot was tortured during the ordeal but South African police said they are investigating a case of common robbery and kidnapping.
The Sun reported that someone took the unnamed pilot to a remote area of the city and “badly roughed him up”.
The pilot had allegedly handed the thugs thousands of pounds and was unable to pilot the plane back to London due to the injuries he suffered.
A source also told The Sun that the ordeal was “staggering” and “like something out of the movies”.
They said: “He endured hours of torture and physical assaults. It only ended when he was left penniless”.
In response to Daily Maverick’s questions, British Airways said, “We are supporting our colleague and the local authorities with their investigation.”
This is the second British Airways pilot to be attacked and robbed in the same area within six months. A captain from the airline was out jogging near Melrose Arch in July 2023 following a stopover when he was attacked and robbed.
The incident also happened days after a Canadian tourist and his two children were abducted, assaulted, robbed and threatened for four hours by bogus police officers in Mpumalanga.
According to News24, after being abducted, Sean Stephens, 50, his children, Trinity, 18, and Kai, 15, his mother and her friend were taken from ATM to ATM and forced at gunpoint to withdraw cash from their bank accounts on Saturday night.
The incident will again put the spotlight on South Africa following the UK government’s notice to its citizens about the SA’s high crime rate.
Last year, while on holiday in SA with his family, 40-year-old British doctor Kar Hao Teoh was killed at the peak of the Santaco taxi strike on 3 August in Nyanga.
Police believe he was driving near the airport when he took a wrong turn towards a group of protesters.
TimesLive reported that Kar Hao Teoh was with his wife Sara and their two-year-old son Hugo when he was fatally shot.
According to BBC News, the victim was a trauma consultant and orthopaedic surgeon at Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow, Essex. DM
Wont be long before no one wants to come to SA!
Absolutely. Soon there will be no international tourism to SA.
This is the ANC’s South Africa – a government that uses tax payer money to take Israel to the International Court of Justice, but does nothing about crime in its own back yard.
💯 instead of worrying about the totally lawlessness at home and rampant crime Not even Jordan or Egypt are interested in Gaza and here we are with total collapse in our country worried about Gaza.
Typical anc – masters of theft, breakage and destruction whilst always pointing fingers at others in trying to deflect any blame, let alone accountability. They pay lip service to murder, rape, kidnapping, job creation etc. They are like a swarm of locusts who ravage the land and leave nothing but a wasteland of poverty and misery behind.
By no means discounting that the crime situation in SA is staggering, one should accept the fact that crime happens everywhere and tourists are always easy targets. Would be interested to know crime incidents against tourists in high crime places like the US, Barcelona and other similar hotspots ..
I am sure you wont find bogus police officers in the US, Barcleona and other hotspots. No kidnapping either. The worst you will get is pick pockets in these places.
The US and Spain have professional law enforcement agencies. Cities like New York Detroit, and St. Louis the murder capital of the US is still safer than South Africa. SAPS on the other hand has seven thousand criminals employed in its ranks, and don’t forget that Cele is the biggest thug of them all. South Africa is now ranked the 7th most dangerous country in the world. Most countries now issue a travel warning for South Africa.
Our country has become a lawless place controlled by thugs. No securty or police close to protect people and property.
Weekly farmers and citizens are attacted.
Melrose arch should be closed off and only pay entry. This is totally unbelievable and absolutely appalling. What a bloody embarrassment!
The pilot wasn’t abducted in Melrose Arch!
There are some horror story’s about tourists and locals being attacked, kidnapped and murdered. Whilst I do not doubt there was an incident I smell more to this story
Surely the Blubird centre has cameras, any comment from the centre management ?
And BA shouldn’t count on our police to do much at all. Except maybe just ‘try’ to write up the brown paper docket which will be added to the pile of brown dockets in some filthy office at the back somewhere.