Cape Town - Two Egyptian nationals charged with murder and kidnapping are expected to appear in Mitchells Plain Magistrate’s Court today on murder and kidnapping charges.

Hazem Elbherey, 29, from Strand, and Mustafao Al Sherbheney, 32, of Site C, Khayelitsha, are accused of murdering a fellow national and former business partner who was killed and buried in a shallow grave along Baden Powell Drive last month.

The two were arrested in Grabouw and Queenstown respectively.

Police spokesperson Malcolm Pojie said a preliminary investigation by an integrated team of detectives, led by provincial detectives, suggested that the victim, Saeed Mansour, was visited by the accused at his business in Grabouw on March 31.

The duo allegedly confronted him about a substantial amount of cash from the business profits they suspected him of taking without consent. They then forced him into their car and took off. He was later reported as missing and initially a kidnapping case was opened.

Pojie said an investigation into the disappearance first took the investigation team to Grabouw, where they arrested one of the accused on Tuesday last week, and two days later to Queenstown, where the second accused was arrested with the assistance of the local police. Both were detained at the Grabouw police holding cells.

Pojie said during further investigations one of the accused co-operated and pointed out where Mansour’s body was buried. It was later exhumed from a shallow grave along Baden Powell Drive, near Mitchells Plain.

National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said Elbherey and Sherbheney appeared in the Grabouw Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday on charges of murder and kidnapping. Ntabazalila confirmed that the duo’s case was transferred to Mitchells Plain Magistrate’s Court for a first appearance.

Police commissioner Thembisile Patekile welcomed the arrest.

mthuthuzeli.ntseku@inl.co.za

Cape Argus