Durban – The alleged leader of a gang of robbers which targeted people selling cars on online advertiser Gumtree, was nabbed by police on when they noticed him sitting in a police cell.

The 44-year-old convicted killer had been in custody after allegedly stealing beds and air conditioners, and the link to the more serious crimes had not yet been made.

Two policemen from the SAPS Provincial Task Team – which has been searching for him since May – went to fetch another prisoner for questioning from the holding cells at Durban Central Police Station.

The sharp-eyed policemen, Warrant Officers Rajen Nagesar and Krishna Naidoo, suddenly spotted the fugitive sitting in a cell.

He is expected to appear in the Durban Magistrate’s Court today on seven counts of armed robbery, hijacking and kidnapping.

Nine months ago, another member of the so-called “Gumtree gang” was arrested and pleaded guilty to six counts of armed robbery.

He was sentenced to six terms of 25 years.

Soon after the arrest, the gang leader fled his Chatsworth home and has been on the run from police since.

Police have since established that he had been living in a lodge in central Durban. He was originally arrested for placing orders for beds and air conditioning units to be delivered to a false address, where he would be waiting.

The accused had been released on parole last January, after serving 14 years for murder.

A police source said the gang had targeted victims on the Gumtree website and set up appointments on the pretext of wanting to buy used vehicles.

“Once they met the victim they asked to take the car for a test drive,” the police source said. During this time the gang leader allegedly introduced one of his accomplices as his personal mechanic who needed to check out the car before it could be bought.

“During (the test drive) the victims were accosted, robbed and cable-tied,” the source said. “They were also taken to ATMs and made to withdraw large sums of cash.

“The suspects then dumped them in remote locations and made off with the cars and other valuables.”

In May, gang member Raventhran Kistensamy Chetty pleaded guilty to six counts of armed robbery.

He was given a prison sentence of 150 years – 25 years for each count. The sentences run concurrently, meaning he will serve an effective 25 years in prison.

Two suspects belonging to the gang are still on the run.

In his guilty plea, Chetty admitted that in all the hijacking and robberies, the victims were held at gunpoint, and that violence and force was used to instill fear. He had said his crime spree started last February when he met the gang leader, who allegedly promised to organise him a job as a driver.

Chetty had said the first victim was from Chatsworth and that he (Chetty) was identified by the gang leader as a mechanic.

“He told the buyer that I needed to test drive the car,” he said in his plea.

“Once on the road, he produced a gun and told the victim he was being hijacked. The victim jumped out of the vehicle and ran away.”

Chetty said the vehicle was recovered that same day by police.

He said they committed six armed robberies from February until May 1. Victims were targeted in eManzimtoti, Sydenham, Malvern, Verulam, Savannah Park, Merebank and on the South Coast.

The same modus operandi was used in all instances.

Chetty said after each hijacking, he was paid up to R800 and the gang leader drove off with the stolen car.

Charges against his co-accused, Thiloshan Chetty, were provisionally withdrawn last month

Johannesburg – Pay TV channel M-Net is pulling campaign adverts featuring “Blade Runner” Oscar Pistorius off air with immediate effect, a company official said on Thursday.

Pistorius was due to appear on Thursday, but the court appearance was later moved to Friday.

The man known as the ‘Blade Runner’ will spend the night in jail, police confirmed.

This was after the shooting at his home of model and law graduate Reeva Steenkamp.

“We are at this stage as the SA Police Services not able to disclose why are we opposing the bail,” said Beukes.

Pistorius was held at the Boschkop police station on Thursday morning, then taken to the Mamelodi Day Clinic for forensic tests.

Pistorius was co-operating with police, she said.

Beukes said there had been other incidents of domestic violence at his place.

“I confirm there had been previous incidents of a domestic nature at his place but this will form part of the investigation,” she said.

She said there was no sign of forced entry into Pretorius’ house and reports that the woman was shot after she was mistaken for an intruder were not coming from the police.

“As SA Police Services we do not have a report based on those allegations. We only heard over the radio that the woman was shot after she was mistaken for an intruder.”

Beukes said forensic detectives were busy collecting evidence from the crime scene and journalists would not be allowed in until the police handed over the scene to the estate’s security company. – Sapa, Reuters, AFP

THREE policemen who are alleged to have been part of a long-running car theft
and hijacking syndicate were arrested in a series ofpre-dawn raids on their
homes in Soweto

The arrests, led by the Hawks, come after 14 months of investigations and sting operations where investigators bought eight stolen vehicles from the syndicate to strengthen their case.

The policemen were arrested in Protea, White City Jabavu and Jabulani. One of them is believed to be a ring leader and the other kingpin is a civilian.

When officers arrived at his home, his children were preparing for school.

The man’s youngest daughter broke into tears as police searched the home.

“The cells are cold, can I take a jacket?” the suspected rogue cop pleaded with his colleagues before being frog-marched out of the house.

The other officer was not at his home and police had to detain his sister, who led them to another property where he was arrested.

The third officer was due to be arrested at Protea police station just before he knocked off at 6am. But he had left work earlier.

He was nabbed elsewhere later in the morning. The operation netted nine of 10 targeted gang members.

Hawks spokesman Captain Paul Ramaloko said the officers, who faced charges of defeating the ends of justice and corruption, would trace stolen vehicles and instead of registering the recovery with the SAPS, they passed them on to vehicle thieves who would sell them.

The rest of the syndicate will face charges of hijacking, vehicle theft and housebreaking.

Ramaloko said many of the vehicles were stolen from yards at night and others were hijacked.

He said in one incident the officers recovered a stolen vehicle and then sold it back to the legitimate owner.

One other suspected stolen vehicle was recovered.

Ramaloko said the gang was expected to appear in the Protea Magistrate’s court tomorrow.

For more details go to www.sowetanlive.co.za

The president of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) returned to the stand at the Farlam commission of inquiry in Rustenburg on Thursday.

Senzeni Zokwana did so because Karel Tip, for the NUM, sought clarity on a strike by rock drill operators in the North West in June.

The inquiry heard that the rock drill operators at Lonmin platinum’s Marikana mine met with rock drill operators from another mine who indicated they could not get a wage increase.

The morning’s procedures started with Dali Mpofu, for the injured and arrested miners, seeking clarity from Zokwana on the songs union members sung at protests.

Zokwana earlier testified they were threatening. However, on Thursday he said not all the songs should be taken literally.

Zokwana was finished by the tea break and Mpofu indicated he would call a new witness, one of the miners shot and injured in August.

The commission is probing the deaths of 44 people during an unprotected strike at Lonmin’s Marikana mine. On August 16, 34 striking mineworkers were shot dead and 78 injured when police opened fire while trying to disperse a group that had gathered on a hill near the mine.

Ten people, including two police officers and two security guards, were killed near the mine in the preceding week.

The inquiry continues.
      
Sapa

Pretoria – The woman shot dead at Paralympian Oscar Pistorius’s home early on Thursday has been identified as model Reeva Steenkamp, 30.

Shiri Reouveni, of Steenkamp’s PR agency, said they had been told it was Steenkamp who had been shot, but did not want to say more.

Asked if she could confirm if it was Steenkamp who was shot, she said: “Yes”.

They would issue a statement later.

Steenkamp was reportedly shot in the head and upper body in Pistorius’s home in the Silver Lakes Golf Estate in Boschkop.

A convoy of about 10 police cars arrived at the Boschkop police station in Pretoria following the shooting.

Oscar’s sister, Aimee, was among those arriving at the station.

Police said a case of murder has been opened.

“I can confirm to you that a 26-year-old suspect will be appearing in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court this afternoon following a shooting at Oscar Pistorius’ house,” Mogale said.

Police would not confirm who the suspect was as he had not yet appeared in court but Beeld newspaper earlier reported on its website that Pistorius had allegedly accidentally shot dead his girlfriend after mistaking her for a robber.

Police spokeswoman Captain Sarah Mcira confirmed this to Beeld. – Sapa

SuperSport United coach Gavin Hunt says only one team went out to play football at the Orlando Stadium last night, and it wasn’t Orlando Pirates.