The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI) has made significant strides in tackling high-profile criminal cases, resulting in the arrest of over 1 400 suspects, who have since appeared in various courts across the country.
This achievement was highlighted during a media briefing in Pretoria on Friday, where the DPCI (the Hawks) National Head, Lieutenant General Godfrey Lebeya, gave an update on the progress made in the third quarter of the 2024/25 financial year.
In the reporting period, a total of 1 452 suspects had been secured before various courts in the country, including 1 409 individuals and 43 corporate entities. Of these arrests, 451 were South Africans, while 958 were foreign nationals.
“These arrests targeted people involved in serious corruption, serious organised crime, serious commercial crime, including fraud, theft, money laundering, cybercrime, police killings, cash-in-transit robberies, other armed robberies, kidnapping for ransom, State capture, illegal mining, counterfeit goods, tax-related offences, COVID-19-related offences, drug trafficking and trafficking in persons,” Lebeya said.
He said out of the 1 452 suspects, 1 172 were secured by the Serious Organised Crime Investigation (SOCI), while the Serious Commercial Crime Investigation (SCCI) secured 234, and the Serious Corruption Investigation (SCI) secured 46 suspects.
Lebeya shared the geographical distribution of arrests, which showed the highest number of the arrests were made in the North West, where 919 suspects were apprehended, followed by Gauteng with 116 arrests, KwaZulu-Natal with 106, Mpumalanga with 67, and the Western Cape with 57 suspects arrested.
Lebeya noted that the North West figures include 854 illegal mining cases that were allocated from Operation Vala Umgodi at Stilfontein, which added to 21 arrests from organised crime projects, known as Tarantula and Grumpyface operations.
“During these arrests, 86 firearms and 3 617 rounds of ammunition were seized. Three clandestine drug laboratories, involving R37 713 500, were dismantled with four arrests,” Lebeya said.
The DPCI had secured 202 convictions during the same period, including 186 individuals and 16 corporate entities. Furthermore, 222 individuals (204 South Africans and 18 corporate entities), including those who were convicted before this quarter but not sentenced, were also sentenced.
Of the 204 convicts, 153 were South Africans, while 51 were foreign nationals.
“Most of these convictions and sentences were secured in the Gauteng province. Of these 222 sentenced convicts, the Serious Organised Crime Investigation secured 106, Serious Commercial Crime Investigation secured 86 and Serious Corruption Investigation secured 30.
"Let me hasten to say that the Directorate has secured 32 life imprisonment sentences during this quarter,” Lebeya said.
Freezing and forfeiture orders issued
To ensure that crime does not pay, the Priority Crime Specialised Investigation (PCSI) has contributed towards the issuing of a combined 96 freezing and forfeiture orders, amounting to R55 210 753-43.
In addition, Lebeya said an amount of R2 022 773-09 has been deposited into the Criminal Assets Recovery Account (CARA).
Digital forensics and ongoing investigations
Lebeya announced that the DPCI’s Digital Forensic Investigation Section has finalised the extraction and analysis of data evidence from 315 electronic devices.
The Priority Crime Management Centre (PCMC) has also received a total of 362 reports from telephone service providers for analysis in support of investigations.
Lebeya said at the beginning of the third quarter, the Directorate was handling 18 264 dockets with a monetary value of R1 026 817 012 597-38.
Of these, 5 616 dockets worth R111 332 466 767-03 and involving 12 607 accused, were still pending in the courts, with 1 836 under investigation, awaiting decisions from the National Prosecuting Authority on whether to prosecute or otherwise.
The Lieutenant General highlighted that the total success achieved by the DPCI on arrests, convictions and attachment of assets stood at 1 770. – SAnews.gov.za
