Global Criminal Masterminds Finding Plenty of Shelter in South Africa

When the police special forces teams, supported by interpol The agents, who burst into a luxury home in the affluent Johannesburg suburb of Bryanston at 4 a.m. on November 17, 2022, soon realized their intelligence was wrong.

Intel had envisioned what they would find behind the mansion’s facade, framed by manicured lawns, rosebushes and fountains—all perfect for creating a front of suburban respectability and tranquility that would attract captains of industry and some CEOs. is the house of South AfricaTop companies of

Unbeknownst to the bunch of wealthy neighbors and their servants, the neighbor had been one of Israel and Interpol’s “most wanted” for the past seven years. He allegedly used Africa’s most developed economy to continue his nefarious operations.

Yaniv Yossi Ben Simon, 46, currently fighting extradition to his homeland, is an alleged hitman and, according to Interpol, the “all-out” for the Abergil Organization, a Tel Aviv-based crime group that has spread across the Middle East and internationally. Around Enforcer”. ,

The leader of the syndicate, Yitzhak Abergil, is serving three life sentences and an additional 30 years in an Israeli prison for killing three bystanders in a 2003 bombing that was an attempted hit on rival drug traffickers.

Inside Simon’s home, investigators found an “arsenal” of weapons, including an assortment of illegal AK47 assault rifles and handguns, drones equipped with “high-resolution” cameras, stolen motorcycles and “high-speed” vehicles, bulletproof vests, A six-pounder weapon was included. Cocaine, money counting machines and scales used to weigh drugs.

“This latest saga clearly shows the Abergel organization has a strong presence in South Africa, yet more evidence that the country has been subjected to a host of international organized crime groups ranging from the Italian, Russian and Chinese mafias to Nigerian cybercrime and human trafficking. smuggling rings, and much more,” Chad Thomas, a private detective with insight into the operation that targeted Simon, told The Epoch Times.

“It’s really been like this for decades, but it’s getting worse.”

He noted that while the apartheid government committed egregious human rights violations against civilians, its police had been very effective in preventing organized crime from gaining a foothold in South Africa.

“The concerning point is that these global fugitives are not hiding here; They are using South Africa to continue their crimes,” Thomas explained. “My police sources tell me that some of the rifles found in Ben Simon’s pad were converted to sniper rifles.”

He said that a light delivery van found on the property had been converted into a “soundproof sniper’s nest”, while another had been “converted into a torture chamber.”

Thomas said: “Murderers all over the world use motorbikes; They are the best getaway vehicles because they are very fast. From the motorbikes, silenced firearms and converted LDVs, the obvious conclusion is that the group was carrying out attacks on South African soil.

There have been several unsolved murders in the country in recent years.

One of the more prominent cases is the July 2019 murder of former South African soccer star, Mark Batchelor.

According to his family, after “falling in with the wrong crowd”, two men on a motorcycle riddled his BMW as Batteller pulled up to his home in the Johannesburg suburb of Olivedale, four miles from Bryanston.

The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC) has described the presence of local and international criminal syndicates in South Africa as an “existential threat” to the country’s democratic institutions, economy and people.

one in report good Released in September last year, GI-TOC said “increasing” rates of murder, extortion and kidnapping are signs that organized crime groups are now “firmly entrenched” in South Africa.

Since 2010, the report states that the murder rate has increased by 38 percent.

According to GI-TOC, the murder figure currently stands at over 40 per 100,000 citizens per year, enough to place South Africa in the top five countries with the highest number of extrajudicial killings.

The report states that more than 10,000 people were kidnapped for ransom in 2021, with the figures for 2022 certainly much higher.

“Bear in mind that this type of crime is very under-reported because often the families of the victims do not involve the police; They only pay the ransom,” Interpol’s representative for South Africa, Andy Mashale, told The Epoch Times.

Police statistics for 2019 indicate only 77 “kidnaps for ransom” that year.

Professor Alreena van der Spuy, senior criminologist at the University of Cape Town, told The Epoch Times that over the past two decades, crime syndicates have “stuck fingers in many pies” in South Africa.

“Aside from your petty, opportunistic crimes like home breaking and violent crimes like rape, I don’t think there’s a crime that happens these days that isn’t connected in some way to an organized crime group.”

The GI-TOC report supports this view, attributing these groups to carjackings, vehicle thefts, extortion rackets, human trafficking, drug-trafficking, cash-in-transit robbery, rhino and elephant poaching, and extraction of metals and minerals from the state. Gives details of involvement in theft of equipment. Electricity, water and transportation companies.

“Criminal groups have penetrated the very heart of the South African economy. They have infiltrated gold, platinum and coal mines. All these minerals are stolen and sold illegally,” GI-TOC director Mark Shaw told The told Epoch Times.

Mashale said gangs specializing in cybercrime, particularly those from Nigeria, were now “firmly entrenched” in South Africa, taking advantage of its excellent IT systems.

“Our research shows that South Africa is the largest center of Internet-protocol addresses used for digital extortion in Africa, and one of the largest in the world.”

The GI-TOC report states: “South Africa faces a complex, mixed criminal threat. Having originated in highly constrained conditions under apartheid, over three decades organized crime has spread across the country and around the world.” Fake links have been created.

Ian Ellis of Ellis Attorneys and a criminal law expert said the country’s “poorly regulated” financial system makes money laundering “relatively easy” for syndicates.

money laundering

“Our economy is melting, but there is still enough money for them and South Africa is still the main continental conduit through which billions of dollars flow every day. Money laundering is easy here; Even the government does this.”

Shaw said that the weakening of state institutions such as the police and the Prosecution Authority, which occurred under former President Jacob Zuma, had provided and is still providing a “strong platform” for organized crime to flourish.

Zuma ruled for nine years until he was ousted by the African National Congress in 2018.

A judicial commission of inquiry has found that at least $34 billion was stolen from public corporations during the Zuma administration. According to the commission’s chief judge, Raymond Zondo, most of the looted money ended up in the pockets of alleged organized crime figures linked to Zuma and the ANC.

Both the former president and his party deny the allegations, although Zuma’s successor, Cyril Ramaphosa, has acknowledged the presence of “criminals” within the ANC and pledged to “get rid of them”.

Zondo said that Zuma had appointed “friends and cronies” to manage government companies.

This, Shaw said, “resulted in a protection network that helped facilitate large-scale Corruption and enabled business and organized crime to gain an unprecedented foothold in the state apparatus.

Ellis believes that the roots of the country’s growing organized crime crisis lie in the ANC’s “post-apartheid, open-door policies”.

“Cast your mind back to the 1990s. It was a free-for-all. Millions of illegal immigrants entered this country from all over Africa. The ANC government showed little interest in enforcing its own immigration laws.

“It didn’t take long for the mafia type to understand what was happening. You can imagine, he must have rubbed his hands with joy: ‘Wow! Here at the southern tip of Africa is this beautiful country with lots of money, big industry, a corrupt government, pathetic law enforcement…as well as top class hotels and beaches, and restaurants. What are we waiting for, boys? Pack your things!'”

In 1995, following intervention by the Italian government, alleged Sicilian Mafia boss Vito Palazzolo, who had founded several companies in South Africa, was extradited to his homeland and later sentenced to nine years for “activities and associations with the Mafia”. He was sentenced to one year in prison.

In 2016, Czech organized crime lord Radovan Krejcir, who had moved to Johannesburg in 2007, was sentenced to 35 years in prison for crimes including attempted murder, assault and kidnapping.

underworld murders

Local investigations have implicated him in a series of underworld murders, including that of a rival gang leader, but he has not been charged in any of these cases.

Prior to his imprisonment, Kreijer publicly claimed friendships and “business alliances” with prominent members of the ANC. He denied ever meeting her.

Thomas said it was an “open secret” in the South African intelligence community that other fugitives from international justice were operating in the country.

“Trust me, the arrest of Ben Simon is just the tip of the iceberg. I applaud the South African units involved in his takedown, but we must remember that it was due to pressure from Interpol.

Thomas said South Africa actually has “incredible” legislation to deal with organized crime.

“We have members of the law enforcement and prosecution structures who want to make a difference. But they do not have the necessary political support. They lack the resources and resources to fight what is increasingly becoming a very shameful problem on the global stage. There is a lack of capacity and infrastructure.At the moment they are taking a knife at gunpoint.

Ramaphosa recently strengthened his Prosecuting Authority and Special Investigation Units. But he is also troubled by allegations of involvement in organized crime.

An independent legal panel established late last year found the president could have committed crimes including money laundering, tax evasion and kidnapping related to the theft of at least $580,000 from his luxury game ranch in early 2020.

Ramaphosa has acknowledged that the money was stolen from his farm, but said it was “legitimate income” from the sale of animals to a Sudanese businessman linked to ousted dictator Omar al-Bashir.

According to Zuma’s former chief of police intelligence, Arthur Fraser, the president used his bodyguards to track down suspected robbers in neighboring Namibia. Fraser’s affidavit details how some of the suspects were illegally extradited, tortured and later paid to keep quiet about the whole affair.

Ramaphosa has denied wrongdoing, and his office said the police investigation into the robbery was “ongoing” and would “establish the truth.”

Ellis said: “With things like this happening in South Africa, obviously international criminals will find the country ultra-attractive. I mean, what better place to be than a place where the fish rot under the head.” appear to have happened.”

Darren Taylor is a reporter based in South Africa.