The tale of The Nirvana Four ended on a positive note when the family confirmed, in a statement, that the Moti brothers have been reunited with their parents.
Moti brothers found: Here’s what we know
Zila, 15, Zayyad, 11, Alaan, 13, and Zidan, 7, were kidnapped three weeks ago, on their way to school in Polokwane, Limpopo. The boys were travelling with their driver along the R37, near the N1 bypass, when two cars, a black Mercedes Benz and a white Kia Sorento, forced them to a halt.
It’s believed seven masked men, with weapons drawn, skidded away with the Moti brothers, leaving the driver behind, unharmed.
Three agonisingly long weeks went by without a single phone call from the abductors, or, at least, the family had not make any such indications to the media, in their attempts to keep the matter as private as possible to avoid irritating the kidnappers.
Little Zidan spent his seventh birthday in captivity, on Sunday 7 November 2021, and while it was feared that he may not have been alive by then, South Africans remained hopeful with tributes and prayers for the Moti brothers’ safe return.
Fortunately, on Thursday morning, a Facebook business page belonging to the family confirmed that “the parents of Zia, Alaan, Zayyad and little Zidan, Naazim and Shakira Moti are overjoyed by the return of their four sons.”
“We are thankful that they were set free and when we received a phone call to fetch the children we rushed to the scene full of hope,” the statement read.
Parents of The Nirvana Four did not share any other details but that they were immensely grateful for the support they received from South Africans.
“We thank Almighty Allah for accepting the our prayers and the prayers of so many in South Africa. We wish to express our sincere gratitude to South African Police Services, our political parties, the media, all the social media influencers and everyone who prayed for the safety of our children,” the family wrote.
According to the police, detectives working on the abduction case received a phone call from a resident in Vuwani, Limpopo, claiming that the four brothers had sought shelter at their home after being dropped off by an unidentified vehicle nearby.
To confirm that these were the abducted Moti brothers, police deployed a medical doctor to the residence, who confirmed that they indeed were Zila, Zayyad, Alaan and Zidan. It was also confirmed that the brothers were in good health and unharmed.
The Moti family asked for privacy and vowed to “talk to the media within a few days.”