Staff Reporter
The three teenage girls who were reported missing in Phuthaditjhaba have been found unharmed in Sasolburg.
The three, who are all learners at Mafube Intermediate School, were last seen on November 20.
Their school uniform was found in the dustbin outside one of the girls’ family house.
The police’s Phuthaditjhaba Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit launched a search for the three girls and, with the assistance of the girls’ families, traced to a tavern in Sasolburg.
Two of the three girls, Karabo Dlamini, 15, and Reamohetswe Maria Mohale, 15, were found on Wednesday outside a tavern in Sasolburg before they were reunited with their families.
According to a statement released by Free State police spokesperson Brigadier Sam Makhele on Friday, preliminary investigations had revealed that the girls were lured from their homes and used for prostitution by unknown foreign males.
Further investigations led officers to the same area in Zamdela where the third girl, aged 16, was found and arrested after it emerged that she had allegedly solicited the kidnapping of the other two girls.
She is expected to appear in the Phuthaditjhaba Magistrates Court on Monday on a human trafficking charge.
The police are appealing to anyone who might have information on the kidnappers to contact Lieutenant Colonel Lekhaoli Thito on 082 414 9736 or Captain Thabiso Moholo on 083 750 5366.