WATCH: Community vigilance leads to the safe recovery of kidnapped infant

Faith and hope have been restored in Cape Town after a concerned and vigilant resident picked up her cellphone and called a missing persons unit, working tirelessly with police to rescue nine-day-old Mogamat Imaad Sharmar from the clutches of his kidnapper.

The eagle-eyed residents of Honolulu Street in Tafelsig raised the alarm when they became suspicious of a woman who had a baby fitting the description of the infant who was abducted on Saturday, June 28, at Middestad Mall in Bellville from his mother, Imaan Sharmar, 25, from Strandfontein.

Another resident said she became suspicious when the kidnapper allegedly asked for her pregnancy urine, and that they also noted the infant’s blue and yellow blanket, which had been described by his mother.

Veranique “Benji” Williams, the founder of Faith and Hope Missing Persons, had received the vital phone call from a resident on Monday, which would set the rescue into motion.

Williams confirmed with Cape Argus on Tuesday that she had reacted to the phone call from the resident and that her team had worked around the clock to find the baby.

“Yesterday (Monday) when I received that call with information that led me to success, I knew it was positive and I can only thank God. 

“When it was confirmed it was the baby, we had tears of happiness and joy rolling down our faces.”

Sandy Schuter Flowers, chairperson of the Strandfontein Community Policing Forum, said: "We live in a society where we only see the negative things but hope is once again restored showing that we have beautiful people in Cape Town, who will get  out of their beds for total strangers, and police we can trust in. I have written a letter to the provincial commissioner to commend the Detective, Wesley Lombard and his team, what a victory it is and to Faith and Hope and the Warrior Squad to say thank you,” she said.

“When I was at the family home yesterday, there was laughter again.

“It was the vigilance and the alertness of the community that alerted Benji of their suspicion.”

Detective Lombard recently made headlines for his role in the case of missing Joshlin Smith and was a vital state witness during the kidnapping and human trafficking trial.

The Cape Argus visited the residents of Honolulu Street, just hours after the infant was back home with his family, where they shared shocking claims of how the woman allegedly pretended to be pregnant by asking for another woman’s urine.

Zainuniesah Boltman said her daughter had been pregnant when she was allegedly approached by the accused kidnapper for her urine.

“My daughter was seven-months pregnant at the time in February and has her baby already now,” she said.

“In February, she (suspect) came to my home and asked me if my daughter can give of her urine (pregnancy urine) because her son is doing a life science project at the mosque school.

“I asked my daughter why she wanted the pee because at the Quafiees school, they do not do Life Science.

“I actually asked her before that, why she asked me for the urine of my daughter because I said I can see you are pregnant.

"She said yes, she (suspect) is five months pregnant, and I said why did she not take her own pee.

“She said she did not know she was pregnant.”

Boltman said their suspicions were raised even further when they saw a similarity in the missing baby and the baby she allegedly brought home on Saturday. 

The 37-year-old suspect is also a mother of three.

“I saw her on Saturday morning when she came home and her husband took a photograph of the baby and when we saw that photograph, that is how we knew that it was that missing baby.

“It was on Facebook and on the Sniper Crime group of the missing baby and we alerted the police.”

Another resident, Lydia Theron, said she also saw the woman with the baby prior to her arrest.

“On Saturday the friend carried the baby bath and she was carrying the baby with the blue and yellow blanket,” she said.

“Everyone became suspicious because she said she was five months pregnant and how can she have the baby now.”

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Cape Argus