Pretoria - Members of a police special task team set up to investigate cases linked to alleged underworld kingpin Rodavan Krecjir have arrested two men on charges of conspiracy to commit murder as they are believed to have been part of a plot to kill witnesses due to testify in the Sam Essa murder.
Police spokesman Brigadier Vishnu Naidoo said in a statement on Thursday: “In an intelligence driven operation today the special task team set up by the National Commissioner, General Riah Phiyega, to investigate cases linked to Rodavan Krecjir, arrested two men for conspiracy to commit murder. The men are alleged to have been part of an elaborate plot to kill several witnesses that are to testify in the Sam Essa murder.
On 12 October 2013, 51-year-old Issa, a Lebanese national was gunned down in a drive-by shooting in Bedfordview in Gauteng. He had stopped at a robot and as he was about to move over, a white Ford Ranger stopped next to him and the suspects started firing shots.
Police had arrested Krecjir, Siboniso Miya, Nkanyiso Mafunda and Simphiwe Memela (Baba Kejesu) in connection with the killing of Issa.
“They were already in custody in connection with attempted murder and kidnapping of a man in Katlehong, East of Johannesburg, as well as the case of conspiring to murder Colonel Nkosana Ximba and Paul O’Sullivan.
“These four accused are due to appear in the Germiston Regional Court on 30 June 2015 to stand trial for the murder of Sam Issa.”
Naidoo said: “In the meantime, the investigation team established that certain individuals associated with the accused had been plotting to kill some of the key witnesses. On uncovering this, the team acted swiftly and over the past few days gathered overwhelming evidence followed by a court order to arrest the conspirators that are allegedly responsible for masterminding the plot on the outside.
“This is a massive breakthrough in this particular case because if this conspiracy was not uncovered in time, not only would we have struggled to secure a successful prosecution, but more importantly, many innocent lives would have been lost,” said the national police commissioner, General Riah Phiyega.
Police said the two suspects and the others, including the Issa murder accused, would now face charges of conspiracy to commit murder and other possible charges depending on how the investigation progressed.
ANA