No place for wanted fugitives to hide in SA
NATIONAL Police commissioner General Fannie Masemola has commended the SAPS’S Interpol National Centre Bureau in the country for its persistent efforts in tracing and arresting wanted fugitives in the country.
This was after they managed to track down an Ireland fugitive in a correctional centre in Kwazulu-natal.
Masemola said South Africa is not a playground for criminals and fugitives.
“These ongoing arrests and take down operations should send a stern warning to those fugitives of justice who are in the country and criminals in South Africa that we are squeezing the space for them to operate, either they hand themselves over to authorities or we fetch them ourselves. South Africa is not a hiding place and a playground for criminals,” Masemola said.
SAPS said that in their latest breakthrough, Interpol South Africa has tracked down an Ireland fugitive to one of the country’s correctional centres in KZN.
“The fugitive is serving a 15-yearjail sentence in SA for murder. The fugitive is also wanted in Ireland for a double-murder case. Neville van der Westhuizen, a 40-year-old South African-born man and his Irish ex-girlfriend Ruth Lawrence allegedly murdered two Irish nationals in 2014. After the murder, they fled the country,” SAPS said.
The police said that last month, Lawrence, 42, was traced and arrested by the Hawks in Bloemfontein. She has already appeared before the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court on the murder charges. The matter has already been enrolled in court for an extradition enquiry.
“Van der Westhuizen has already appeared before the Durban Magistrate’s Court and his extradition enquiry has been postponed to December 12 this year.”
SAPS said that in another case, the team extradited a Botswana fugitive Wazha Nthoiwa-mazinyane and handed over the fugitive to Botswana authorities this past week at the Tlokweng border gate. Mazinyane fled Botswana after he was charged with offences relating to armed robberies in Botswana by Francistown police.
During the week, a multi-disciplinary team led by Interpol SA, Organised Crime, detectives, Crime Intelligence and the Special Task Force arrested a 46-year-old Israeli gang leader attached to a criminal organisation in Israel called the Abergil Organisation.
The gang leader was arrested along with seven others in a house in Bryanston in Johannesburg.
National police spokesperson Colonel Athlenda Mathe said the gang leader has been on Interpol’s Red Notice since 2015. He is wanted in Israel for conspiracy to commit murder and attempted murder.
She said that Israeli authorities say that the suspect is part of a notorious gang dealing in drug trafficking, extortion and other criminal activities.
In 2003 and 2004, the suspect allegedly placed an explosive bomb underneath a vehicle of a man in Israel in two separate incidents. As a result of the first explosion, five people sustained serious injuries but all miraculously survived.
In the second incident, the suspect placed a bomb on top of a vehicle. In this incident, three people also sustained serious injuries.
“During an early morning takedown operation, the team pounced on an identified address in Bryanston and found the suspect and seven others, 12 firearms including five assault rifles and seven pistols, $40000, and three suspected stolen motorcycles were seized,” Mathe said.
She said that all role-players were at the scene of the swoop.