An arsenal of guns and ammunition awaiting police destruction went instead directly into the hands of gangsters in the most violent parts of the Cape Flats.
A police reservist implicated in smuggling these “prohibited weapons” appeared in the Bellville Magistrate’s Court in Cape Town on Monday.
Irshaad Laher is facing charges of racketeering‚ corruption‚ theft‚ and gun smuggling‚ and is the third person to be arrested in the case which sheds light on the origin of weapons used in deadly gang turf wars in parts of the city. He was released on R100‚000 bail on Monday by agreement between his defence team and the state.
Vereeniging police colonel Christaan Prinsloo was handed an 18-year jail sentence after entering into a plea and sentencing agreement with the state last week. He admitted that he was supplying weapons in collaboration with a colleague.
The two men allegedly sold about 2‚400 weapons since 2007 and an unknown amount of ammunition for R2 million to prominent gang leaders‚ fuelling the escalating drug wars in the Western Cape.
According to the plea and sentencing agreement the weapons and ammunition were part of arsenals that were supposed to be destroyed by police.
Deputy provincial police commissioner for detective services Major-General Jeremy Vearey said that the arrests would significantly curb the supply of weapons and ammunition to criminal groups.
“He (Prinsloo) has been involved in the supply of weapons particularly to gangs in areas that you are well aware have been the source of intense violence over the past few years ever since his guns started being supplied in the Western Cape‚” he said.
“So there’s no coincidence that when you look at some of the footage that you see on YouTube where people are shooting as if there’s no limit to their ammunition or the firearms that they have‚ this is what caused that‚” said Vearey.
The case was postponed until July 22.
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