Two children are feared to have been kidnapped and trafficked to an unknown country, possibly within the Southern African region.
The children are said to have been missing for about nine months.
The Botswana police have launched a manhunt for a man who is believed to have skipped the country with the twin girls, aged 10.
“We are looking for twin girls, Kefilwe and Khumo Lebotse, aged 10, who are believed to have been kidnapped by their father, Brighton Banda, who is also nowhere to be found,” said Detective Superintendent Phanyoitsile Nnanakoko of Mochudi police station.
He explained that the children were apparently staying with their grandmother in Mochudi until the beginning of this year when the father then transferred the kids to Metsimotlhabe Primary School where there were both doing Standard Four.
He said since then, the children were never seen again.
Nnanakoko said, as police, they strongly believe that the children might have been taken out of the country illegally by their father.
He said they have notified neighboring countries about the case to assist them about his whereabouts.
Nnanakoko said although the suspect is believed to be a Zimbabwean national, it appeasers that his names might not be his real names.
He said the possible charge that the father could face is kidnapping.
Nnanakoko appealed to members of the public to assist them with information about the whereabouts of the twins and the suspect.
“It is really painful not to know the whereabouts of my grandchildren,” said Irene Lebotse, the missing children’s grandmother.
She said she last saw the twin girls at the beginning of this year when they were being taken away from her by their father, adding that sometime last month the father called her on a private number and the children told her that there are in Zambia.
She said she wondered how they went to Zambia since they did not have passport and their birth certificates are with their aunt.
The children’s aunt, Montle Ruele, shared the same sentiments with Lebotse.
“We do not know where the children are since the beginning of this year and this is very painful to us,” she said.
Ruele said she is hopeful that the police will trace and find the twin girls.
