Western Cape police have rubbished claims that a fifth person was arrested in connection with the disappearance of six-year-old Joshlin Smith.
It has been nearly three months since Joshlin, from Saldanah Bay, disappeared.
Police responded after the leader of the Patriotic Alliance (PA), Gayton Mckenzie took to his Facebook and told his over 330,000 followers a ‘huge raid’ took place in the Saldanha Bay area.
“Huge police raid at the house of sangoma, police are all over the place. The cops are looking for Owen. Unconfirmed reports state that someone has already been arrested, a lady. Will update as soon as we get more information. [sic],” the post read.
However, Western Cape police spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Malcolm Pojie confirmed no new arrests have been made in the matter.
“Be advised that no new arrests have been made. The investigation is still ongoing and the possibility of other suspects being arrested as the investigation unfolds cannot be ruled out. The search for Joshlin continues,” Pojie said.
“Social media post about another arrest after a search yesterday, are all false rumours.”
Currently, Joshlin’s mother, Kelly Smith, her boyfriend, Jacquen ‘Boeta’ Appolis, Stevano van Rhyn, and Lourentia Lombaard have been charged with trafficking in persons for the purpose of exploitation and kidnapping.
The group all abandoned their bail and are remanded in custody until their next court appearance on May 13.
Joshlin went missing on February 19, and was last seen after 5pm.
Last week, the Cape Argus reported that a private investigator has become involved in the search for Joshlin, claiming he located her static DNA in the Saldanha Bay area.
Retired police officer Danie Krugel, claimed he had found Joshlin’s hair.
According to the publication, Krugel is the inventor of the Matter Orientation System (aka Krugel Theory Tester), which he claims can track a person’s location by using their DNA, for instance, a strand of hair, which he was given.
“We found Joshlin’s hair and we have our findings but we can only share it with the police.
“We didn’t charge anything for Joshlin because this case touched us, and also we wanted to help the police and trust that the police will do the best they can to help Joshlin,” Krugel told Cape Argus.
Krugel rose to fame when he took on the task of tracing missing people like the renowned case of Madeleine McCann, the three-year-old British toddler who disappeared while on holiday with family in Praia da Luz in Lagos, Portugal.
robin.francke@iol.co.za
IOL