Faces charges of attempted murder, kidnapping Specialised police team ‘worked day and night’

In a statement issued later, the police said that although they did not usually name suspects before they appeared in court, “it was decided on the basis of the existence of an arrest warrant and public interest that the suspect in this instance will be identified”.

Krejcir apparently spent the night being questioned at Crime Intelligence headquarters in Joburg, with Makgale saying more details of the arrest and the charges would be made known at a press conference today.

The Czech made headlines in recent weeks after several of his associates were killed in separate incidents in Bedfordview in what many have labelled an all-out war raging in the Joburg underworld.

Key Krejcir associates Veselin Laganin and Sam Issa were murdered last month while two others, Ronnie Bvuma and Jan Charvat, were killed when a bomb went off at Krejcir’s business, Money Point, in Bedfordview earlier this month. Five other people were injured in the blast but Krejcir was not on the scene at the time of the explosion.

Before that, Krejcir himself survived a fantastical attempt on his life when remote-controlled shotguns opened fire on him from behind a number plate of a parked car outside the same shop.

Last night’s swoop was shrouded in secrecy, with only police top brass and the Crime Intelligence Division apparently in the loop with the Hawks crime-fighting unit and prominent private investigators who had been probing Krejcir caught unawares.

”We had no idea about the arrest as Crime Intelligence had acted on their own, but nonetheless we are very glad that he has been taken down,” private investigator Mike Bolhuis said.

Last week, the SA Revenue Service seized Krejcir’s assets and arrested his business manager, Ivan Savov, who was charged with fraud, money laundering and theft of nearly R13 million.

Savov, the business manager at Money Point, was denied bail by magistrate Brian Nemavhidi in the Johannesburg Specialised Commercial Crimes Court because he felt the Bulgarian had failed to prove it was in the interest of justice to do so and that he could pose a flight-risk.

In his affidavit in support of bail, Savov claimed the State had no case against him, adding that the investigation had “dragged along” since February.

“It therefore seems as if my prosecution is only an afterthought probably brought about by the recent publicity surrounding the bomb blast and the hype surrounding Radovan Krejcir,” said Savov’s affidavit, read by attorney, Piet du Plessis.