Fears for teen allegedly abducted by human traffickers via social media

Siphesihle Maluleka, 16, was last seen on September 12 in Soweto and her family is desperately looking for her.

Siphesihle Maluleka, 16, was last seen on September 12 in Soweto and her family is desperately looking for her.

Published Sep 22, 2020

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A Gauteng family is desperately searching for their daughter, 16, who is believed to have been lured on social media by human traffickers.

Siphesihle Maluleka was last seen by her Soweto family on September 12 but days later, after doing their own investigation through her social media activity, they learnt that she was in Cape Town with unknown men.

“We believe she is taken by a human trafficking syndicate that lures young girls from social media by sending them money and buying gifts for them. My daughter fell for this trap and she’s being kept away from us,” said the distraught dad, Nick Motloung, yesterday.

He said the last time the family saw Siphesihle was when she left her grandmother’s Soweto home with a bag, claiming she was going to a friend’s house.

Motloung said his daughter, who usually lives with him in Hartbeespoort, went to Soweto to stay with her mother in June because there was no school and her mother was ill. Siphesihle’s mother and paternal grandmother live near each other in Soweto.

On September 13, Motloung tried to call his daughter because he had promised to send her money and spend the day with her.

“I figured I would still send her the money and I sent her a text saying, ‘I sent you this total amount of money. You can go buy what’s needed so that by the time I get there, things will be ready’, and she only replied saying, ‘Thank you’. I asked her why she wasn’t picking up my calls and she never responded.”

Motloung quickly contacted his mother, who told him that she hadn’t seen the teenager since the previous morning when a car came to pick her up. Siphesihle’s mother also hadn’t seen her since September 10 when Siphesihle said she was going to her father’s house.

The desperate parents turned to their daughter’s friend, who told them she was in Cape Town according to her Instagram posts.

“I have an app that accesses her phone when it goes on, so I can see what’s happening. On Monday morning at 1, I got inside her phone and saw her most recent pictures because she likes pictures,” he said.

Through Siphesihle’s pictures that have location and date stamps, Motloung discovered that his daughter arrived in Cape Town in the early hours of September 12.

The father also found pictures of his daughter sitting in the lap of a suspected foreign national blesser and criminal, and another man believed to be from KwaZulu-Natal.

“I ended up opening a case and I gave the Hawks all that information because I think she might have fallen into a human trafficking scam,” he said.

Hawks’ Gauteng spokesperson Captain Ndivhuwo Mulamu confirmed that a missing person’s case was opened at the Johannesburg Central police station before it was referred to the Hawks because the family believed she was abducted.

“We are investigating the matter and communicating with our counterparts in the Western Cape where we received a lead on the whereabouts of the girl and the suspects,” Mulamu said.

Motloung said that he suspected this daughter’s kidnappers were also controlling Siphesihle’s social media accounts.

“I’m afraid that they are buying time and want us to get comfortable and think she’s okay and then the next thing she’s gone and disappeared forever,” he said.

The Star

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