The National Head of the Hawks Lieutenant General Godfrey Lebeya has welcomed the Cape Town High Court decision to forfeit almost R420 000 worth of assets from alleged criminals in two unrelated cases.
The Hawks’ Priority Crime Specialised Investigation (PCSI) managed to convince the court and secured over R365 000 from an SBV driver and four other suspects for their role in a robbery in 2015.
It is alleged that on 28 December 2015, the SBV vehicle driver, Fuzile Artwell Rala (39), was approached by a suspect whilst the crew was busy outside loading cash at the ATM situated at the petrol station in Promenade Mall in Mitchells Plain.
The vehicle then drove off with an undisclosed cash amount and the SBV vehicle was later recovered at Luvuyo Drive, in Khayelitsha. According to Rala, he was instructed to stop the vehicle at the said address. He was arrested the following day. Further investigation linked four suspects to the robbery and the Hawks members seized a VW polo worth R75 000 and a total cash amount of R290 000 from different suspects.
The Cape Town High Court issued a final forfeiture order against the VW polo to be sold on public auction and the confiscated cash to be deposited into Criminal Assets Recover Account (CARA).
Meanwhile, in a separate and unrelated matter, five suspects were arrested in possession thirty rolls of Telkom copper cables weighing 378.5kg to the value of R68 525 and a truck valued at R190 000. They were arrested by the Barrydale Police on 13 June 2017, while doing their routine patrol duties on the R62 route in Barrydale.
The copper was found loaded inside a truck which was seized pending further investigations. Hawks investigation later linked them to the alleged theft of Telkom copper cables at Keur Boschfontein, just outside Ladysmith.
The 1.3 ton, Kia truck was sold for R48 300 on public auction in keeping with the Cape Town High Court final forfeiture order and proceeds to be deposited into Criminal Assets Recover Account (CARA). Both cases are yet to be finalised in court.
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