Durban - A former Durban policeman who claims there was an attempt to kill him, for “knowing too much about police corruption”, is one step closer to justice.
On Friday - nine years after Logan Packaree was shot seven times while at a stop street in Savannah Park near Chatsworth – the SAPS’s elite Special Task Force arrested two men in connection with the attempted hit on him.
One of the men arrested is a police reservist who worked with Packaree while he was a policeman.
Packaree claims that in spite of knowing the identities of the men who allegedly shot him in 2005, the initial police investigative team assigned to the case had dragged its heels and “did absolutely nothing” to apprehend the suspects.
He said police top brass only acted after he, with the assistance of a private investigator, compiled his own case docket, complete with a reconstruction of the crime scene and witness statements against the alleged shooters.
Early on Friday morning, members of the Special Task Force in Durban, with the Provincial Detective Task Force, swooped on the Klaarwater and Ekhupemeleni homes of the two men allegedly linked to the shooting.
The police reservist, was allegedly found with R86 700 in counterfeit money, an unlicensed Norinco 9mm pistol and silencer, a police bulletproof vest, police reflector jacket, a police radio and two shotgun rounds. The second man was allegedly found in possession of a firearm and R600 in counterfeit money.
The pair were due to appear in the Pinetown Magistrate’s Court on Monday.
Packaree said he was finally relieved that the men had been arrested and that justice was finally being done.
“I have battled for nine years to get to this point. I have gone through every channel from pleading with prosecutors to interviewing the witnesses myself to get the men responsible to face justice,” he said on Sunday. “It has been a long road.”
Packaree said the drama began in September 2005, two years after he had left the police force, when he got in touch with former colleagues and gave them a tip-off about a suspected stolen vehicle in the Chatsworth area.
On September 27 that year he said he was asked to assist them to recover the vehicle, which he did.
Later that evening, after retrieving the stolen car, he said two men, one of whom was armed with an automatic rifle, ambushed him at a stop street.
“He pointed the gun at me. At first I thought it was a joke because I knew him, but then he started shooting,” Packaree said.
The gunman sprayed Packaree’s vehicle with bullets. Seven hit him in the chest, abdomen and leg rupturing his lungs, liver and kidney.
“It was an execution style hit. I sat there helpless. I remember that after being shot, I called my brother on speed dial but as much as I tried to speak to him to tell him what happened, I could say nothing. I could hear him saying on the other end ‘I can't hear you’... I later woke up in hospital where I spent 32 days,” he said.
Packaree said he believed that he was shot because he knew about various crimes committed by crooked police officers.
He showed the Daily News on Sunday a dossier of files he had compiled over the past nine years that purported to show meetings with police management, e-mail correspondence and sworn statements.
Much of Packaree’s investigation into the alleged hit men was done with the assistance of private investigator and former policeman, Seelan Pillay, of Bopha Investigations.
They took statements from witnesses and got confidential informants to turn against the hit men, Packaree said.
“Once all that had been done and we showed the head of detectives what we had compiled, he got the provincial detective task team to look into the matter.”
An arrest warrant - seen by the Daily News - was issued for the two alleged hit men four months ago, but no policeman in Durban wanted to arrest the men, Packaree claimed.
Two weeks ago, however, Pillay, through a contact at the task force, was able to get them to effect the warrant.
The task force staked out the homes of the men for a week and monitored the movements before embarking on a pre-dawn raid on Friday.
Packaree said he was not afraid of the men and only wanted to see justice done.
“I have died once already that night when they shot me seven times through my body. The truth is I am not afraid of dying otherwise I would have dropped this a long time ago,” he said.
“This is not about being afraid or running scared, it’s about justice.”
KwaZulu-Natal police spokesman, Colonel Jay Naicker, confirmed that two men had been arrested, and that one of them had been found in possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition, counterfeit money and a bulletproof vest.
“It is alleged on 27 September 2005, at approximately 19:50, an ex-policeman was allegedly shot at Savannah Park while seated in his vehicle by an unknown suspect.
“He sustained a gunshot wound to the chest and was taken to hospital. The suspects will appear in court soon,” Naicker said.
“Investigations are continuing.”
Daily News