By Emily Setona
FOURIESBURG – Police have arrested three suspects in connection with the kidnapping and murder of a foreign national whose body was found stuffed in a garbage bag along the R26 outside Fouriesburg.
The arrests were made within 12 hours of the discovery on Wednesday, 9 September 2026.
Police were called to Uitkyk Farm, 5km outside Fouriesburg at about 09:00 after a community member spotted what looked like a human body.
Officers found the deceased wrapped in a large white recycling bag and hidden among trees. He was wearing blood-stained clothing.
The victim was later identified by his brother as a man who lived alone in Fouriesburg and owned a tuckshop in Mashaeng township.
The brother last saw him on Sunday, 6 September after church in Bethlehem. On Tuesday, 8 September, he found his brother missing and his white Toyota Hilux gone. He reported it to police.
Investigations led police to an 18-year old Grade 11 learner from Mashaeng, who was promptly arrested at school. That arrest led them to two alleged accomplices, aged 23 and 26, also from Mashaeng.
One suspect was found with 27 rounds of live ammunition. Police further established the stolen Toyota Hilux had allegedly been sold in Gauteng.
The trio face charges of kidnapping, murder and theft of a motor vehicle. One faces an additional charge of unlawful possession of ammunition.
They will appear in the Fouriesburg Magistrate’s Court on Friday, 11 September.
Free State Provincial Commissioner Lt Gen Thabang Lesia praised the Thabo Mofutsanyana District Operational Crime Combatting Unit for their swift work.
Continue enforcing the law and ensuring that those responsible are brought to justice,” Lesia said.
