News24 reports that paramedics were held hostage in Mpumalanga on Sunday while the ambulance they were using was stripped of its engine, gearbox, battery and tyres.

According to police, seven persons hatched a plan to pretend that a woman was in labour on a farm in Spitzkop Road, Belfast and that she needed medical care. An ambulance was dispatched in response to the call for help. Mpumalanga police spokesperson Brigadier Selvy Mohlala reported: "At around 21:30, it is said that a follow-up call was received by the paramedics, whereby the caller requested to meet with the medical staff at a certain spot for ... directions to the scene. Little did the medical staff know that this was an orchestrated robbery." When the ambulance arrived at the spot, two men wearing balaclavas emerged. "The suspects allegedly held them hostage and took their cellphones from them, before they tied them up with cable ties, but kept [them] inside the ambulance," Mohlala said. The ambulance was then driven to another place where there were five more suspects. The estimated value of the parts that were stolen is about R300,000. Surprisingly, the suspects gave the paramedics the cellphones taken earlier, before they left the scene

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Zandile Khumalo at News24

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