The Acting Provincial Commissioner of KwaZulu-Natal, Major General Bheki Langa welcomed the arrest of four men, one of whom is a policeman, following on going probes into murders at the Glebelands Hostel.
“Our detectives have been working very hard to bring down those behind the killings and to ensure our investigations meet up to the high standard that is expected by our courts. We also once again wish to thank members of the community who did eventually come forward and work with our investigators to unmask the perpetrators behind the violence. We want criminals to know that they will not enjoy a peaceful festive season as long they are on the run from police,” he said.
The Glebelands Hostel was designed to be a place where communities reside in peace and harmony but over the years that has changed for the worse. The hostel has been marred by incidents of violent crimes which included murders and attempted murders. Some of the murders which occurred at Glebelands Hostel were not the normal kind of murders. Initial investigations revealed that a lot of the killings were orchestrated in an organised fashion. It then became very apparent to police management that a different approached had to be employed in dealing with the Glebelands Hostel situation.
Provincial Organised Unit investigators together with crime intelligence embarked on many months of tedious investigation, hostel infiltration and information gathering in trying to get to those responsible for the atrocities at the hostel.
Investigators encountered countless difficulties in trying to untangle the web surrounding the Glebelands murders. Whilst trying to gather evidence police encountered a number of obstacles which included inter alia reluctant witnesses, missing witnesses, witness being killed as well as negative perceptions from different sectors of the communities and information being discussed on various public platforms which informed the suspects in keeping one step ahead of police.
Amidst all those adversities our crime intelligence gathered enough information and identified suspects linked to the shootings at Glebelands. The information was handed over to the Provincial Organised Crime investigating team and on the strength of the evidence gathered, warrants of arrests were issued for the identified suspects.
On Wednesday, 6 December 2017 members from the Provincial Organised Crime Task Team, Special Task Force, Provincial Tracking Team, National Intervention Unit, Counter Intelligence, Umhlali K9, Empangeni K9, and Operational Command Center conducted coordinated predawn raids at Harding and Glebelands Hostel for wanted suspects.
The teams split into two groups, one group proceeded to Harding at KwaMachi where they arrested a 29 year old suspect. The second team went to Block 51 in Glebelands Hostel where they arrested a 45 year old suspect. A team also went to Block 43 where they arrested a 34 year old suspect. During a search of the room of the 34 year suspect, a police cap, two police reflectors jackets, a state issued laptop as well as a number of internal police correspondences were seized.
On Thursday, 7 December 2017 at 06:00, a team proceeded to the Durban Central Police Station where they arrested a 37 year old police officer who is also linked to the shootings in Glebelands.
The arrested men will be charged accordingly and will appear in court soon.
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