Durban – A criminal who duped KwaZulu-Natal police into believing he was a Hawks brigadier, and who won accolades for his “crime fighting successes”, has been found hanged in a police cell just six hours after he was arrested.
Musa “Muzi” Khumalo was found hanged by a blanket in a Pretora police cell on Saturday.
He had fled South Africa after his cover was blown in July when KZN police spokesman, Colonel Vincent Mdunge, saw a picture of him that was being circulated as a wanted person.
Mdunge recognised him as the “brigadier” who had berated him for a comment he made to a newspaper.
His death after being on the run for the past two years, has raised suspicions that he may have been murdered because of information he had allegedly had that could have incriminated top police officers.
“He did not end his own life, he was killed … it was to silence him,” a police source told the Daily News yesterday.
“He had ‘dope’ on a lot of high ranking police officers. He had threatened to spill the beans on them.”
The source said Khumalo had close ties with national ministers, politicians and senior government officials.
After hoodwinking the police, he gained acceptance within their ranks and went on to impress them with his detective work.
In the past year, Khumalo had helped police smash local and international car theft and hijacking syndicates, leading to recovery of more than 40 stolen and hijacked cars in northern KZN.
Police later realised, however, that this had been a brilliant strategy by Khumalo to eliminate his rival criminals and use his “position” in the Hawks to sustain his alleged car theft and hijacking operation.
In July this year, police said three warrants of arrest had been issued for Khumalo in KZN – for murder, escaping from police custody and impersonating a police officer. Johannesburg police were also looking for him for impersonating a Hawks investigator.
The Guardian 