By Bruce Venter and Sapa-AFP
Diamonds worth millions of rands have left South Africa through Johannesburg's Lanseria Airport as a part of a global trafficking network, a Chinese Triad gang operative has revealed.
The operative, Tsang Fen Yei claims that a South African-registered aircraft carrying R300-million worth of illegal rough diamonds left Lanseria on Friday, bound for Cameroon.
Tsang alleges the flight to Yaoundé was organised by the Chinese Triad, whose operation is apparently run from Bronkhorstspruit, east of Pretoria, and a Waterkloof, Pretoria, residence.
He says the valuation on the "cargo" on Friday's alleged flight was "cautiously conservative".
He explained that, once in Cameroon, the stones are intercepted by Triad operatives and sorted into "parcels" for delivery into the legitimate diamond market.
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Tsang said the Triad concerned was known as Sun Yee On, and was "one of the largest organised-crime cartels in the world". He claimed it uses diamonds to launder money obtained from other illegal activities.
Jan Henning, deputy head of the National Prosecuting Authority, said he could not comment at this stage as he did not want to jeopardise ongoing investigations into Chinese organised crime.
However, he said South Africa was part of the African Prosecuting Forum, which enabled the country to work with neighbouring states to combat organised crime.
According to Tsang, the rough diamonds are sourced through a complex African network: "The need for hard currency by those with interests in protecting conflict-zone diamond fields, such as the Congo, will always drive the illegal trade."
On Friday, Angola expelled 418 foreigners, mostly Congolese, as part of its ongoing crackdown on diamond traffickers. The foreigners were among a group of 1 005 detained last month as part of Operation Diamond, launched by Angola's police and army in December.
Angola has already expelled about 120 000 Congolese and 35 000 west Africans as part of the operation, although United Nations agencies and human rights groups say the campaign has been brutal.
Tsang, who claims he was tasked with organising the trafficking operation in South Africa, said the diamonds were brought here to facilitate their entry into small, licensed diamond mining operations.
A senior Scorpions investigator - who believes the war against Sun Yee On is impossible to win - said there was concern over the Triads' involvement in diamond smuggling.
"Despite investigations, the scale of their illicit diamond operations appears to be increasing," he added.
- This article was originally published on page 1 of The Star on September 13, 2004
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