Jayde Panayitou’s abduction and murder appears to have been deliberate, with details emerging that a substantial amount of money was paid to kill her.

Earlier on Thursday, provincial police spokesperson Brigadier Marinda Mills announced that two men had been arrested and that detectives had ruled out robbery as the motive.

Thando Siyoli, 31, appeared in the Port Elizabeth Magistrate’s Court briefly on Thursday and has been remanded in custody till May 7.

The second man, aged 28, is a close family member whose name is known to News24. He cannot be named until he appears in court on Monday.

Sources close to the investigation have, however, described how the man was arrested in Uitenhage late on Thursday night in an apparent sting operation.

It is believed that the man had taken out a substantial hit on Panayiotou.

While the amount has not been confirmed, it is believed to be in the region of R80 000.

He was arrested in Uitenhage while apparently dropping off an additional amount of money to one of the men he had allegedly hired to kill her.

Mills said police were not prepared to make any further comments on the case. News24