Media Statement
South African Police Service
Office of the Provincial Commissioner Free State
 

BOTSHABELO - As a significant step in the ongoing efforts to combat organised crime, the police arrested several individuals involved in the alleged extortion of a local doctor in Bloemfontein. 

The doctor opened an extortion case in September 2024 against people who demanded money from him. The doctor received a phone call from a man who identified himself as the uncle of a patient he treated in February 2023. The caller allegedly told the doctor to deposit a substantial amount of money. He received follow-up messages and phone calls that he must pay the amount or a case of rape will be opened against him. 

During a takedown operation, the Mangaung Metro District Extortion Task Team followed intelligence-led information, which took them to a mall in Botshabelo on Friday 11 October 2024. A 42-year-old man and two females aged 35 and 29 were arrested. They arranged to meet with the victim to continue their attempts to extort the doctor.

Another 38-year-old man who fled was arrested last night in Botshabelo.

The suspects will appear in the Bloemfontein Magistrate's Court on Monday 14 October 2024.
End

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Captain Loraine Earle
0824461020

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