Five men have been arrested just 24 hours after an early morning attack at a farm near Fort Beaufort in which a teenage girl was attacked on Monday. The 2am attack at a farm in the Doornkloof area on the outskirts of Fort Beaufort, situated between Makhanda (Grahamstown) and Komani (Queenstown) triggered a provincial manhunt.
The girl and her family were held hostage by five men who gained entry to the farm house through a window.
Police spokesperson Captain Khaya Tonjeni confirmed that five suspects, between the ages of 27 and 40, had been tracked down by detectives during a manhunt that ran into the early hours of Tuesday morning.
More arrests are still to come.
The arrests came after all neighbouring police stations and clusters, including Port Elizabeth, were told to be on the lookout for two vehicles, a bakkie and Subaru, stolen during the robbery.
Eastern Cape police commissioner Lieutenant-General Liziwe Ntshinga said that the arrests come after the 72-hour activation plan was implemented.
“I applaud the team for this quick breakthrough. I am also elated that the young lady is reunited with her family unscathed. Once again we have stamped our authority to say Eastern Cape has zero tolerance for criminals."
The men are due to appear in the Fort Beaufort Magistrate's Court on Thursday for house robbery, theft, theft of the vehicles and kidnapping.
No one was injured in the robbery and the teenager has been sent for trauma counselling from the ordeal.