Rusten Mogane hijacked, daughter held at gunpoint

AN alleged plot to kidnap the daughter of Namibian sports personality Rusten Mogane yesterday blew up in the faces of four armed robbers.
Police foiled the bid and arrested three of them.

While official information from the Police and the family remained sketchy at the time of going to press, The Namibian can confirm that Mogane and his daughter, reportedly 19 years old, were confronted by the gang on the road between Windhoek and the Döbra High School in Brakwater. Mogane, the Chief Administrator of the Namibia Sports Commission, was reportedly on his way to drop off his daughter at the school when the suspects approached them at a stop sign and demanded money.’He apparently told them that he only had N$5 000 in the bank at the time, and they decided he should go back to Windhoek with one of them,’ a source told The Namibian.The men allegedly pulled the girl out of Mogane’s car and said they would hold her hostage until he returned with the money.The suspect apparently allowed Mogane to enter the bank alone and waited for him outside, hiding at a nearby car wash.Mogane alerted bank staff who called the Police.The Police arrested the suspect as he and Mogane pulled out of the parking area at the bank and then accompanied Mogane to the spot outside Windhoek where the other three suspects were waiting.Three suspects were arrested; the fourth apparently escaped.Police were still investigating the case late yesterday afternoon and were reluctant to provide any information.’We can confirm that such an incident indeed took place around that time (noon). But further information can only be divulged as it unfolds,’ NamPol spokesperson Warrant Officer Theofelus Willem said.Mogane said he did not want to speak to the media at the time.’Let’s wait for the Police investigation, then we talk,’ he said.He maintained, however, that it was not a case of kidnapping but one of hijacking.Bank Windhoek’s Katutura branch manager also declined comment on the matter.