A British Airways pilot endured hours of torture and physical assaults after being kidnapped during a brief stopover in South Africa, according to sources. The First Officer had gone shopping

alone in Johannesburg when a woman in a supermarket parking lot asked for help with her bags. Subsequently, he was forcibly taken by a group of men to a remote location, where he was subjected to the ordeal to coerce him into surrendering money.

Describing the incident as reminiscent of a movie plot, an insider shared with The Sun that the pilot fell for the ruse of assisting someone in need, only to be swiftly abducted. The harrowing experience concluded when the pilot was left without any money. The aftermath rendered him unfit to fly back to London, prompting the airline to arrange for a replacement pilot.

British Airways confirmed the abduction of a staff member outside the Melrose Arch precinct in Johannesburg, pledging support to local authorities in their investigation. Kidnappings in South Africa have seen a significant increase in recent years, with statistics from the South African Police Service indicating a more than threefold rise from 4,306 cases in 2014 to nearly 15,342 in 2023. Johannesburg, located in the Guateng province, accounted for over half of all recorded kidnappings in 2023.

The surge in kidnapping incidents has been attributed to foreign syndicates relocating their operations to South Africa, coupled with local groups imitating their methods to target South African nationals, as outlined in the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime’s 2022 risk assessment for South Africa. Despite this, many victims, particularly low-income citizens, may not report such crimes, leading to potential undercounting in police figures, according to the UN-backed organization. Photo by Robert Dennison from South Africa, Wikimedia commons.