Two men alleged to have kidnapped a Witbank boy and demanded Bitcoins in exchange for his safe return will spend the next few months behind bars as they await trial. The pair appeared in the Witbank Magistrate's Court yesterday where their case was postponed to 17 April, says TimesLIVE.

The NPA's Monica Nyuswa said the men appeared on charges of kidnapping and extortion and were denied bail. The two are allegedly behind the kidnapping of a Witbank teenager, as well as the attempted kidnapping of a girl from Middelburg.

Their first victim was the 13-year-old Witbank boy, who was snatched near his home in May last year. The boy's parents went to the police station to report the kidnapping and returned to find a ransom note in their yard, in which the suspects demanded the equivalent of R1.5m in Bitcoins for the safe return of the boy.

They threatened to kill him if the family did not comply.

A few days later, the boy was reunited with his family unharmed.

Police have not disclosed whether any ransom was paid.

Police suspect a similar modus operandi in the second case, when the suspects tried to kidnap a 13-year-old girl in Middelburg on 21 August. The first suspect was arrested in November in Germiston. The second man was arrested in Ladysmith, KZN, on 30 December.

Brigadier Leonard Hlathi said the cases were the first of their kind in Mpumalanga. Both suspects appeared in court this month in connection with the Middelburg case. They were granted bail of R1 000 each but remain in custody as a result of the Witbank matter.

Full TimesLIVE report