\n<\/p>\n
An American pastor has been kidnapped by armed men after they stormed his church service in South Africa, local authorities say. <\/p>\n
Josh Sullivan had been conducting a service at Fellowship Baptist Church in Motherwell, a township in Gqeberra in the Eastern Cape, on Thursday evening when “four armed and masked male suspects entered”, police spokesman Captain Andre Beetge told the BBC.<\/p>\n
The men stole two phones before fleeing the church in the 45-year-old pastor’s silver Toyota Fortuner. Police later found the vehicle abandoned, but there was no trace of Mr Sullivan.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson from the US State Department told the BBC that they were aware of the kidnapping of a US citizen in South Africa.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
They said there was no “greater priority than the safety and security of US citizens abroad”.<\/p>\n
Capt Beetge told the BBC the case had been handed to South Africa’s elite police unit, known as the Hawks, which investigates serious organised and commercial crimes and high-level corruption.<\/p>\n
“The police is currently following all possible leads to locate the victim and apprehend the perpetrators,” said Hawks spokesman Lt Col Avele Fumba.<\/p>\n
Jeremy Hall, the Sullivan family’s spokesman, told local newspaper TimesLive<\/a> that he was at the church with his wife and their children when the incident took place. <\/p>\n “They knew his name,” he said. <\/p>\n Mr Sullivan’s mother, Tonya Morton Rinker, wrote on Facebook that she was heartbroken over the news.<\/p>\n She added: “Our congressman and American embassy are working on finding him.”<\/p>\n No ransom has been requested, according to the privately-owned News24<\/a>. <\/p>\n Mr Sullivan describes himself as “a church planting missionary” on his personal website. <\/p>\n On it, he says he moved to South Africa with his wife and children in 2018 to establish a church for Xhosa-speaking people.<\/p>\n Over the past decade, there has been 264% increase in kidnappings in South Africa, according to police statistics.<\/a><\/p>\n Just a few days ago, a Chinese national was kidnapped in Gqberra.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n