SA a haven for mobsters – Cope
CRIME experts have applauded the South African authorities for arresting a 46-year-old highly trained Israel fugitive who is believed to be a gang leader attached to a criminal group called the Abergil Organisation.
He was arrested with seven others. In the early hours of yesterday, a team led by Interpol South Africa, Organised Crime detectives, Crime Intelligence and the Special Task Force went to a house in Bryanston, Johannesburg, and arrested the foreign gang leader and others.
Further investigations led police to recover 3kg of drugs suspected to be cocaine or crystal meth, 19 firearms, including two AK47s, six motorcycles of which three have been identified as stolen, eight motor vehicles, one frequency jamming device, four drones fitted with cameras, two bullet-proof vests, two money-counting machines, a digital scale used for weighing drugs and four GPS tracking devices. The police also seized and $40 000 (about R690 000) in cash.
But Cope spokesperson Dennis Bloem said the country was no longer safe and had become a haven for dangerous criminals from across the world.
“This arrest confirms what we are saying all the time – our country’s intelligence structures have collapsed. State capture has destroyed it completely.
“We call on the ministers of the SSA and police to account to the nation …” Bloem said.
The crime scene was cordoned off for almost the whole of yesterday while some investigators had to go to the Randburg Magistrate’s Court to apply for a search warrant.
At the scene, a sniffer dog was called in amid the seizure of the rifles, drugs and foreign currency.
Police spokesperson Colonel Athlenda Mathe said the gang leader had been on Interpol’s Red Notice list since 2015. The gang leader is wanted in Israel on charges of conspiracy to commit murder and attempted murder.
According to Israeli authorities, the suspect is part of a gang dealing in drug trafficking, extortion and other criminal activities. He allegedly planted a bomb under a vehicle in Israel in 2003 resulting in five people sustaining serious injuries. In 2004, Mathe said, the suspect allegedly put a bomb on top of a vehicle. The blast, which targeted the same person, left three people seriously injured.
Police said the fugitive is wanted for his part in the attempted murder of a rival crime boss in Israel.
“Based on the information from the Israeli police, this fugitive has been living in South Africa since 2007. He is also involved in directing a criminal organisation, export, import, trademark supply of dangerous drugs,” Mathe said.
Gareth Newham, the head of the Justice and Violence Prevention Programme of the Institute for Security Studies, said the arrests were welcomed.
“It demonstrates we have a good working relationship with Interpol and are able to arrest fugitives from justice in other countries. Hopefully this will dissuade other fugitives from coming to South Africa,” said Newham.
Organised crime investigator Chad Thomas, from IRS Forensic Investigations, commended the multi-disciplinary inter-agency team.
“The authorities have sent a clear message that South Africa must not be considered a haven for international organised crime syndicates,” said Thomas.
The authorities needed to beef up the intelligence structures and stop using the intelligence services for localised political in-fighting purposes.