JUST IN | Kidnappers release Riana after a week of negotiations

After a week of negotiations with her alleged kidnappers, Gqeberha biokineticist Riana Pretorius, 26, was returned to her family, unharmed, at 2am on Friday.

She was dropped off at a garage in Struandale.

Pretorius, a biokineticist, was kidnapped from outside her workplace in Newton Park, in Gqeberha, last Thursday.

A close family friend said other than a few bruises, she was not seriously hurt.

“I spoke to her on the phone at about 3am and we just cried,” the woman said.

One of the men suspected to be linked to her kidnapping from outside her workplace on Thursday last week, Xolisile Rawutini, 40, will appear in the city's magistrate's court on Friday morning on charges of illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition.

Further arrests are imminent.

This is a developing story.

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