SA hosts stolen luxury car frenzy

Hawks members have received death threats as they close the net on an international drug-trafficking syndicate dealing in stolen luxury vehicles.

The vehicles are taken in the UK, smuggled through South African ports, then exchanged for drugs in North Africa in a sophisticated money-laundering operation.

Hawks spokesman Colonel McIntosh Polela confirmed yesterday that they had been working in a joint operation with the UK’s elite Avcis (Association of Police Officers Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service) Unit for the past eight months and that Avcis Unit members were due to arrive in South Africa this month. Polela confirmed that one arrest had already taken place, and that more arrests were "imminent".

"Some individuals in the (Hawks) have been receiving death threats and this is due to the huge dent we have made in the syndicate’s pockets,” Polela said last night. “These are hardworking teams who are not going to be stopped by these death threats. We have set our sights on more members of the syndicate."

It appears to be a multi-million-rand operation where high-end vehicles ranging from Porsches and Mercedes-Benzes to BMW X5s are stolen in England, shipped to South Africa and smuggled through South African ports, primarily Durban and Coega.

The cars are then transported by road or sea to North Africa, where they are exchanged for drugs.

The first crack in the syndicate’s operation occurred when UK police recovered more than 30 stolen luxury vehicles destined for South Africa. Since June, 14 stolen vehicles, each worth in the region of R1 million, have been found hidden at ports around the country.

A senior researcher in Organised Crime and Money Laundering at the Institute of Security Studies, Annette Hubschle, said South African ports were known to be "soft targets" for criminal syndicates. Border officials were paid by syndicates to alter documentation and "corruption is rife".

Source :  iol.co.za/ - Tanya Waterworth, August 22 2011

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