Gauteng residents and police officials keep Hawks busy
Gauteng kept the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigations (DPCI), also known as the Hawks, on its toes due to criminal activities during the fourth quarter of the 2024/2025 financial year.
Lieutenant General Godfrey Lebeya provided an update on Thursday on some of the cases that have kept the unit busy during this period.
Arrests and convictions
According to the Hawks head, 656 suspects – 607 natural persons and 49 juristic persons – appeared before the various courts in the country.
Of these arrests, 450 (74%) were South Africans, while 127 (26%) were foreign nationals.
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Of the 656 suspects, the serious organised crime investigation secured 364, the serious commercial crime investigation secured 220, while the serious corruption investigation secured 72 suspects before the courts.
Gauteng leads
The majority of the arrests happened in Gauteng -139, North West – 99, KwaZulu-Natal – 88, Eastern Cape, and Free State – 73 each.
During these arrests, 395 firearms and 1746 rounds of ammunition were seized. Seven clandestine drug laboratories were dismantled with drugs worth R23.6 million.
During the same period, the Hawks secured 239 convictions.
Of these, 253 accused were natural persons and 13 juristic persons. Of the 253 sentenced natural persons, 139 (55%) were South Africans, while 114 (45%) were foreigners. Most of these convictions and sentences happened in Gauteng.
Of these convictions, the serious organised crimes investigation secured 157, the serious commercial crimes investigation secured 73, while the serious corruption investigation secured 9.
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'To ensure that crime does not pay, the Priority Crimes Specialised Investigation (PCSI) has contributed towards the use of a combined 102 freezing and forfeiture orders amounting to R418 million 938 340. Of these orders, 56 were preservation orders, with a monetary value of R370 952 439,' said the Hawks head.
'With 45 forfeiture orders with a monetary value of R14 985 000, one restraint order with a monetary value of R33 million. An amount of R19 104 419 has been deposited into the criminal assets recovery account. This performance makes the total recorded successes of arrests, convictions and attachment of assets 1 024.'
Hawks on police killings
The Hawks once again bemoaned the killings of police officers. Some lost their lives in the line of duty, while others were off duty.
During this period, 22 police officials were murdered – 16 were off-duty, while six were on duty. According to the Hawks head, 50% of these murders happened in Gauteng.
ALSO READ: Hawks arrest two women for editing matric certificates
Officials managed to secure 38 arrests and 14 convictions, with 11 life sentences plus 487 years in prison secured.
Two Metro police officers were killed during this period.
However, the police force is also bleeding officials to crime, with 33 police officials arrested during this period.
According to the Hawks' head, 19 of these officials were traffic officials, while 14 were Saps officials.
'They were arrested for cases ranging from fraud, corruption, murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances, and defeating the ends of justice,' said Lebeya.
Most of these officers were arrested in Gauteng, Mpumalanga and the Free State.
Six police officials were convicted and sentenced for defeating the ends of justice, conspiracy to commit robbery, fraud, and corruption.
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