Kidnappers have demanded a ransom for the safe return of Josh Sullivan, the US pastor abducted at gunpoint by kidnappers during a church service in South Africa last week.

Josh Sullivan of Tennessee was reportedly taken by armed men, who knew his name, at a church in Motherwell, near Gqeberha in the Eastern Cape.

The incident unfolded at about 7 PM when the pastor of the church “was allegedly confronted by at least four unknown armed suspects during a church service,” the suspects forced the minister into his own vehicle and flee. The car was later discovered abandoned about a kilometre from the church.

Local newspaper reported that on Saturday, that the kidnappers made an undisclosed ransom from the pastor’s family.

A spokesperson from the US State Department told the BBC that they were aware of the kidnapping of a US citizen in South Africa.

They said there was no “greater priority than the safety and security of US citizens