An American pastor has been kidnapped by armed men after they stormed his church service in South Africa, local authorities say.
Josh Sullivan had been conducting a service at Fellowship Baptist Church in Motherwell, a township in Gqeberra in the Eastern Cape, on Thursday evening when “four armed and masked male suspects entered”, police spokesman Captain Andre Beetge told the BBC.
The men stole two phones before fleeing the church in the 45-year-old pastor’s silver Toyota Fortuner. Police later found the vehicle abandoned, but there was no trace of Mr Sullivan.
A spokesperson from the US State Department told the BBC that they were aware of the kidnapping of a US citizen in South Africa.
They said there was no “greater priority than the safety and security of US citizens abroad”.
Capt Beetge told the BBC the case had been handed to South Africa’s elite police unit, known as the Hawks, which investigates serious organised and commercial crimes and high-level corruption.
“The police is currently following all possible leads to locate the victim and apprehend the perpetrators,” said Hawks spokesman Lt Col Avele Fumba.
Jeremy Hall, the Sullivan family’s spokesman, told local newspaper TimesLive that he was at the church with his wife and their children when the incident took place.
“They knew his name,” he said.
Mr Sullivan’s mother, Tonya Morton Rinker, wrote on Facebook that she was heartbroken over the news.
She added: “Our congressman and American embassy are working on finding him.”
No ransom has been requested, according to the privately-owned News24.
Mr Sullivan describes himself as “a church planting missionary” on his personal website.
On it, he says he moved to South Africa with his wife and children in 2018 to establish a church for Xhosa-speaking people.
Over the past decade, there has been 264% increase in kidnappings in South Africa, according to police statistics.
BBC
Thought this was only a Nigerian phenomenon; sad it has spread to sasa Afrika. Oh perhaps this may have something to do with the Gaza war, given most of the people feel America is aiding the slaughter…
The ones who are doing these kidnapping are Nigerians….south Africans don’t know the kidnapping jobs
Let’s see how his God works now ?
Prayers for his safe recovery, however people from rich countries like US, UK, France etc should always take necessary precautions especially when they are visiting Africa because anything can happen here and once it happens time and a lot of resources will be spent to recover them. Avoid these troubles by simply being security conscious at all times.
This could most likely be a set up by boers or other lobby groups not happy with SAs stance with the Palestinians…………
, in order to inflame an already volatile situation between the US and SA…………
FWD2031
What a race!
Kind of set up job, let’s see the all thing unfold. Mind you, Elon is playing as a victim for his people.