Johannesburg – A foreign woman who claims she was tricked into coming to South Africa seven years ago by a man she met on the internet, has been arrested in Springs for entering the country illegally, the Lowvelder reported.

Springs police arrested the woman earlier in the week, the newspaper reported on Friday.

“She has no documents and so she’s an illegal immigrant,” Captain Mothutsane was quoted as saying.

She was reportedly discovered on Wednesday by a passer-by who saw her being manhandled aggressively by an unknown man.

“I saw from his body language that he was threatening her so I drove around the block. When I came around again and stopped, he ran away and I asked her if everything was alright,” the passer-by known only as Leon was quoted as saying.

The woman told him she was American, aged 26 and that her name was Anna Kreller.

Seven years ago she allegedly met a man from Cape Town on the internet who tricked her into believing he wanted to marry her, she reportedly said.

The man travelled to America to fetch her and brought her back to SA.

She also allegedly told Leon that when she arrived, the man took her passport and assaulted her.

He then forced her into a life of prostitution and she was given to other people who had held her captive in a house in Geduld in Springs, the paper reported.

Gauteng provincial police spokesperson, Brigadier Neville Malila, reportedly told the paper they were aware of the woman being taken to the Springs police station, but still had to decided whether or not to open a case.

SAPA