The suspects were arrested on Tuesday 30 November 2021, after the discovery of a decomposed body in a trench dug along the R26 between Wepener and Hobhouse. According to the Free State police spokesperson, Thabo Covane, this case is related to a previous case of kidnapping and assault, where three men were allegedly kidnapped and assaulted by a group of people on 24 September 2021.

According to the two victims' statements, a group of people in separate minibus taxis kidnapped and assaulted them, accusing them of committing robberies at foreign national-owned stores. The beating reportedly took place from Kanana and Ebenhaeserhoogte and continued at the river. One victim alleges that river sand was stuffed in his mouth. A third victim was beaten to a point where he was unable to move anymore and that is when the other two were loaded back into the minibus and taken back to Kanana and Ebenhaeserhoogte.

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OFM News previously reported a task team from Mangaung Metro SAPS, made up of members from Detective Branches, Counter-Intelligence, and Tactical Response Team arrested a 20-year-old suspect in Wepener and a 34-year-old in Qibing at about 23:30 Monday evening. These arrests led to the arrest of seven other suspects in Qibing.

Four out of nine of the arrested suspects voluntarily led the police to the body at about 02:37 Tuesday morning. The remains of the victim, who is originally from Botshabelo and stayed in Dewetsdorp before he moved to Qibing, were dug out and preserved by experts from Mangaung Metro Criminal Records Center and were taken by Forensic Pathology personnel to the Bloemfontein Government Mortuary for further investigation.

 
OFM News