Carte Blanche reports on a horrificly dangerous story of SAPS Crime Intelligence Robbery, Extortion & Corruption:Devi Sankaree Govender (Carte Blanche presenter): 'These clips form part of about 18 hours of footage which reveals how a group of criminals pretending to be policemen extort money from a variety of people. This footage has been shot by the criminals themselves.'
The video material shows a variety of crimes, including petrol theft, hijackings and extortion. Apparently the footage has been circulating within the SAPS in Gauteng. We managed to get a high-ranking policeman to talk to us about it.
He has seen the footage and the sensitive documents found in the possession of the arrested men. He's extremely concerned that such a thing could have happened.'
Devi: 'Hold my hand and walk me through this process. What did you find out in the files? Tell me the story.'
Policeman: 'The allegations are that these three people received information from senior officers in crime intelligence to go to certain individuals who are businessmen, get them on video while they are receiving stolen goods, then they go in and they extort money from them. They say, 'If you don't pay me R100 000 by the end of the day we are going to arrest you.' And 90% of the time the people pay it. After they've extorted the money from these businessmen they go back to crime intelligence officers and pay them their cut of the extortion money.'
Devi: 'How do they convince the people that they're extorting money from that they are policeman?'
Policeman: 'They pretend to be policeman with proper... it looks like real IDs with a real police emblem on them... police dockets, police... real police pocketbooks and they've got the attitude of policemen.'
Policeman: 'They needed help with the documents that were found in possession of the suspects when they were arrested... confidential documents. But when we went there and we looked at the documents ourselves we couldn't believe what was in the possession of these so-called police informers.'
The documents he is referring to are documents like these [on screen], called profiles. Profiles give detailed information on an individual.
Policeman: 'Where you live, who you are married to, what kind of vehicle you drive, firearms registered, previous addresses where you've stayed, bank accounts, cellphones, everything.'
Devi: 'Why should people watching this programme... why should South Africans care about this particular case?'
Policeman: 'The problem is the confidential information that was in the hands of these so-called informers that should never, never have been in their possession. If they can get that sort of information they can easily plan business robberies or house robberies... they know how many people are staying at your house, how many cars you have, and if the car is not there then the owner is not there. And if there is a firearm registered under your name they know what to expect when they go to your house.'
 The Turnaround: How America's Top Cop Reversed the Crime Epidemic; By William Bratton, Peter Knobler |
Meanwhile Beeld reports on a man hijacked by Hijackers posing as Policemen:Pretoria - Two men wearing police uniforms and driving a marked police vehicle hijacked a father of three on Thursday. After driving around with Piet Erasmus for hours, he was forced onto his knees at the side of a road. He expected to be shot, but the hijackers fled when two teachers drove past.Previous reports of Bogus Police Robbers and Hijackers: SA's Robbers with Blue Lights & Badges: ‘Why going to 2010 World Cup terrifies Guardian.UK's Louise Taylor..’:» » LAST month, three robbers who pretended to be police officers robbed four Spanish tourists. The tourists had changed money at the airport and were on their way to the Hilton Hotel in Sandton when three men in a blue Ford Fairmont used a blue light to pull the driver over after the Marlboro turn-off on the N3. They stole about R28400.Honest Policemen don't trust their fellow crooked policemen, with very good reason as detailed by Honest Policeman, Ivan Meyers in An Organisation on the Brink of Collapse; but the Crooked ANC politicians, inform the (crooked???) Canadian Goverment; that there is absolutely no reason for why Huntley should not have trusted the South African Police.
» » In May, four men were arrested for allegedly posing as police officers and robbing people. The men flashed a fake police badge at their victims, and then asked them to pull over. They told their victims they were from the “tourism and drug control unit”, and needed to search their bags.
» » In October 2007, a group of traditional Greek singers were robbed by three bogus policemen just after they left the airport.
» » World Boxing Association lightweight king Paulos “Hitman” Moses and his trainer Nestor Tobias were held up at gunpoint and robbed while in a taxi on their way from the airport. The two Namibians were attacked by four bogus policemen while en route to Parktown in Johannesburg shortly after 11am yesterday.
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Crooks in action: Corruption in SAPS Crime Intelligence
Devi Sankaree Govender, Carte Blanche
17 January 2010
 [Date: 17 January 2010 07:00] [Producer: Eugene Botha] [Presenter: Devi Sankaree Govender] [Show: Carte Blanche] |
This is a video clip of surveillance being done on a truck. It shows the delivery of goods. But it's not as innocent as it seems. These goods are stolen and those delivering them are about to be caught and interrogated.
[Clip] Frans: 'Are you allowed to sell 'extra' stock?'
[Clip] Man: 'No.'
[Clip] Frans: 'You are not allowed... get inside!'
The man doing the questioning is not a policeman, but is pretending to be one. Everything is being filmed and the shop owner is accused of buying stolen goods. A scuffle ensues.
[Clip] Frans: 'I'm a detective!'
[Clip] Shopkeeper 1: 'It is my shop!'
Frans: 'You'll never threaten me... don't take a chance. You will put your life in trouble. This f***** shop is going to be closed my friend...'
Devi Sankaree Govender (Carte Blanche presenter): 'These clips form part of about 18 hours of footage which reveals how a group of criminals pretending to be policemen extort money from a variety of people. This footage has been shot by the criminals themselves.'
This clip shows another scenario - more businessmen arrested for allegedly selling stolen goods.
The stolen goods are confiscated by a man in civilian clothes.
Then the detained men are filmed being taken to Pretoria Central police station with the shop owner.
Devi: 'What is shocking about the footage is that the criminals are capturing themselves on film while they are committing crimes and extorting money from people.'
Here a shop owner is confronted for buying stolen goods.
[Clip] Man: 'Are you the owner of this shop?'
[Clip] Shopkeeper 2: 'Yes.'
And here the man on the right is pretending to be a policeman. He is receiving extortion money from the business owner. And it's all on camera.
The video footage dates back as far as 2003 and was found in the possession of three men shortly after they were arrested. They also had sensitive police information in their possession. The men have appeared in the Pretoria Magistrates Court, and were subsequently released on bail.
The men are Peter Kolele, Solly Mafolo and Frans Mmoko. Frans is the amateur cameraman.
[Clip] Frans: 'Good morning Sir, how are you Sir?'
[Clip] Man: 'I am okay and you?'
[Clip] Frans: 'My name is Frans from private detective, from Pretoria.'
[Clip] Man: 'Okay?'
[Clip] Frans: 'I am here for investigating a case of theft and loss of stock.'
The video material shows a variety of crimes, including petrol theft, hijackings and extortion.
Apparently the footage has been circulating within the SAPS in Gauteng. We managed to get a high-ranking policeman to talk to us about it.
He has seen the footage and the sensitive documents found in the possession of the arrested men. He's extremely concerned that such a thing could have happened.'
Devi: 'Now these three guys we are talking about, are they policeman? Who are they?'
Policeman: 'All three of them are currently police informers. Only one of them was a police inspector and he was discharged for corruption.'
Devi: 'Do they have a criminal record?'
Policeman: 'Yes, all three of them have criminal records.'
Devi: 'How did these individuals get information about stolen property changing hands... from where?'
Policeman: 'According to the investigating officer they told him when they were arrested... they told him that they got the information from taskings, from crime intelligence.'
Devi: 'Why would crime intelligence give them that kind of information?'
Policeman: 'To get money.'
Devi: 'Hold my hand and walk me through this process. What did you find out in the files? Tell me the story.'
Policeman: 'The allegations are that these three people received information from senior officers in crime intelligence to go to certain individuals who are businessmen, get them on video while they are receiving stolen goods, then they go in and they extort money from them. They say, 'If you don't pay me R100 000 by the end of the day we are going to arrest you.' And 90% of the time the people pay it. After they've extorted the money from these businessmen they go back to crime intelligence officers and pay them their cut of the extortion money.'
Devi: 'How do they convince the people that they're extorting money from that they are policeman?'
Policeman: 'They pretend to be policeman with proper... it looks like real IDs with a real police emblem on them... police dockets, police... real police pocketbooks and they've got the attitude of policemen.'
A Johannesburg businessman who has also fallen victim to the police informers agreed to talk to us on condition that he remains anonymous.
Businessman: 'On a Friday morning in 2008 a couple of guys approached me. They said they were police and that I was suspected of buying stolen goods. There were four of them. He had one of those little video cameras and was filming all over the place and I think at that stage I gave him I think it was about R6000 or something... it was a guy who called himself Frans that I gave the money to in a book.'
Our police contact became involved in the case when he was called in to assist with the investigation.
Policeman: 'They needed help with the documents that were found in possession of the suspects when they were arrested... confidential documents. But when we went there and we looked at the documents ourselves we couldn't believe what was in the possession of these so-called police informers.'
The documents he is referring to are documents like these [on screen], called profiles. Profiles give detailed information on an individual.
Policeman: 'Where you live, who you are married to, what kind of vehicle you drive, firearms registered, previous addresses where you've stayed, bank accounts, cellphones, everything.'
Devi: 'Why should people watching this programme... why should South Africans care about this particular case?'
Policeman: 'The problem is the confidential information that was in the hands of these so-called informers that should never, never have been in their possession. If they can get that sort of information they can easily plan business robberies or house robberies... they know how many people are staying at your house, how many cars you have, and if the car is not there then the owner is not there. And if there is a firearm registered under your name they know what to expect when they go to your house.'
Devi: 'And the police keep this kind of information, but surely it is privileged information?'
Policeman: 'It is privileged information. It is only certain individuals who have access to this information. This is only for police investigation in serious cases.'
Devi: 'Why would they need your bank account details, because they weren't stealing money directly from bank accounts?'
Policeman: 'It seems they use this information to see which businessmen they can extort money from and how much money they can extort from them.'
Devi: 'So they would check to see how much money you had in your bank account first?'
Policeman: '...so that they don't ask for R100 000 and there's only R10 000 in the bank account. And if they know that you've got a few million in the bank then they'll go there and extort money from you.'
Devi: 'Let's talk about the video footage. It is highly unusual for criminals to film themselves doing this? Did you get to see the video tapes?'
Policeman: 'Yes, we did see the tapes.'
 The Compstat Paradigm: Management Accountability in Policing, Business and the Public Sector; By Vincent E. Henry |
Devi: 'And what was your reaction?'
Policeman: 'We couldn't believe what we saw.'
Devi: 'Because they would film, what would they film, everything?'
Policeman: 'Yes, the receiving of stolen goods, the selling of stolen goods, hijackings, everything.'
Devi: 'We were also astounded at the fact that they were filming in police stations. We can't film in a police station!'
Policeman: 'We also saw that they were filming police officials taking statements and interviewing suspects, at various police stations. We do not let people video tape us while we are doing our work arresting suspects. I don't see the purpose of getting people to film us.'
Devi: 'This is not the first time the three informers have been arrested in the past on serious charges. At least three cases were opened against them since 2003 that were suddenly and mysteriously dropped ... cases that involved a lot of money.'
Policeman: 'Hundreds of thousands...'
Devi: 'Hundreds of thousands?'
Policeman: 'Yes.' And the cases against them were really strong.
Policeman: 'Watertight cases. In all of these cases evidence was booked into the SAP13s... 100% watertight cases.'
Devi: 'SAP13s? What is that?'
Policeman: 'That is the store where police keep exhibits for court purposes, a safe place.'
 Leading Beyond Tradition: A Breakthrough Strategy for Law Enforcement; By William E. Cooper |
Devi: 'One of the reasons our source came forward is because he is concerned that the issue of the possession of the profiles and other documents will not be taken seriously enough.'
Policeman: 'The reason why I'm saying this is that if they're really serious about the case they would never have granted the accused bail, but would have kept them in custody.'
Devi: 'We contacted the SAPS and Director Govindsamy Mariemuthoo, Head of Communication for Gauteng Province. He replied saying that the three informers have indeed been arrested on charges of impersonating police officials, extortion and possession of police property. The three men are currently out on bail and will appear in court again on the 19th of January. He assured us that the matter was being thoroughly investigated.'
Devi: 'What do you think should be done?'
Policeman: 'We must establish a task team to investigate why these documents were in the possession of these suspects, who gave them the documents, and the appropriate steps must be taken.'
» » » » [Carte Blanche (PDF)]
Hijacking 'cops' take dad on hell-ride
Hilda Fourie, News 24
2010-01-21 22:31
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Pretoria - Two men wearing police uniforms and driving a marked police vehicle hijacked a father of three on Thursday.
After driving around with Piet Erasmus for hours, he was forced onto his knees at the side of a road. He expected to be shot, but the hijackers fled when two teachers drove past.
"They saved my life. The hijackers would've shot me there and then if they hadn't driven past," said the 51-year-old Waterkloof Ridge resident.
Erasmus says it was about 06:00 when he saw the police car, blue lights flashing, behind him just north of the Murrayhill off-ramp on the N1.
He stopped and got out of his car. Two men in police uniform, wearing reflective jackets with the word "Police" on it, got out of their car.
'That's when I got scared'
 Four elderly Dutch tourists were shot at enroute to their Marloth Park holiday cottage near the Kruger Wildlife Reserve and robbed of about R100,000’s worth of electronic equipment and personal documents. Their rental car was hijacked and they were left stranded at the roadway in the pitch-dark. The attack happened at 20:30. |
The driver politely asked Erasmus to open the boot because they were looking for a car similar to his.
"The other man searched my briefcases.
"The next moment the driver shoved a 9mm into my ribcage. The other one touched his firearm.
"I knew I was in real trouble when the back doors of the police car opened and two men in civvies got out. That's when I got scared."
The two men grabbed Erasmus' keys and made off in his Mercedes-Benz AMG C63 (registration number YNV?717?GP).
Erasmus was bundled into the police car, where he was forced to lie on the back seat with his head in the lap of one of the men. They told him to close his eyes and drove around for about three hours.
Military precision
He says he prayed for the entire time, recited verses from the Bible and thought of his wife Marlene and his children Pieta, 8, Arlene, 6 and ten-week-old Alyssa.
The hijackers took his watch and R1 200 from his wallet; shared the money and gave back the wallet.
"They said if I co-operated fully, I'd be OK.
"They were talking on their cellphones all the time."
Erasmus says the military precision with which they committed the crime, shows it wasn't the first time they'd done it.
'Kneel, close your eyes'
The hijackers dropped Erasmus off next to a road outside Hammanskraal at about 09:00. They ordered him to kneel, close his eyes and bend his head.
"I waited for the shot, wondering where the bullet was going to hit me."
But two teachers driving in the opposite direction, Jeseline Lekalakala and Fransiena Mausela probably saved his life as the hijackers fled in the car.
They took him to the Hammanskraal police, where he laid a charge.
The police did not respond to Beeld's enquiries. -- Beeld
» » » » [News 24: Beeld (PDF)]
» » [IOL: Officers Held for Robbery (PDF)]
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