Cape Town - A R400 million cocaine bust in the Western Cape is among the SAPS Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation’s (Hawks’) highlighted successes for the second quarter of the 2022/23 financial year.
At a media briefing on Tuesday, Hawks head Lieutenant-General Godfrey Lebeya provided a progress report on the directorate’s work since the previous quarter.
It emerged that 827 suspects were arrested in the second quarter of the financial year, and appeared before courts across the country.
During the same period, between July and September, 217 criminals were convicted and sentenced.
The Hawks and the Western Cape traffic department arrested three suspects – Ebrahim Kara, Mishack Ngobese and Elias Radebe – on August 4, who were found in possession of the consignment of cocaine, estimated to be worth R400 million.
The suspects were intercepted by the team on the N1 heading towards Cape Town. Their matter was remanded to December 15 for further investigation.
“The majority of arrests emanate from Serious Organised Crime Investigation with a total of 524 arrests.
“The Serious Commercial Crime Investigation component followed with 206 arrests, while Serious Corruption Investigation secured a total of 97 arrests, which makes up our quarterly total of 827 for national priority offences,” said Lebeya.
He said fraud cases accounted for the highest number of arrests overall, with 222 across all provinces.
“The directorate has noted that corruption continues to surface as one of the biggest threats posed by criminals in our beloved country.
“It facilitates illicit financial funds, which triggered our response to focus on money laundering charges initiated through criminal investigations. Although the number of arrests are the lowest from the Serious Corruption Investigation component, it is in line with the number of cases and resources assigned to deal with the phenomenon.
“We have made some strides on that front and some of the cases that required a high level of meticulous investigation carried out by our team of investigators in rooting out these corrupt elements are mentioned here,” said Lebeya.
He announced new recruits, including the deputy national head, Siphesihle Nkosi, who is among the seven senior managers appointed since September.
During this period, 244 members ranging from the junior level to middle management were also appointed.
Cape Times