Three held in ‘Mafia’ case

THREE more foreign nationals – believed to be linked to an international organised crime syndicate – have been arrested.

They allegedly smuggled millions of rands’ worth of imitation power tools into the country, where they have been selling them.

The arrests came less than 24 hours after five Italian nationals were arrested in Colchester and Jeffreys Bay on Monday afternoon with more than R3-million worth of imitation power tools.

The bust came after two men were originally arrested in Colchester by the metro’s hijacking task team after cases of fraud had been reported in Gauteng.

After their arrest police were led to a Jeffreys Bay bed and breakfast in Wavecrest where three more alleged syndicate members were arrested.

A sixth man managed to escape in a Toyota Avanza.

By late yesterday afternoon, police had located the Avanza and the man in Johannesburg and arrested him.

At the time, two men – claiming to be from Ireland – were detained in Alexandria for also allegedly attempting to sell imitation generators from a bakkie rented in Kempton Park.

Detectives believe the group is linked to the Italian Mafia who have run the same scam across Europe and Britain.

During the initial investigation, police found proof of payment of hundreds of thousands of rands which had been transferred into an international bank account.

The five who have been detained will appear in the Port Elizabeth Magistrate’s Court today while the other three will appear in court by tomorrow.