Cape Town - An electronic monitoring bracelet worn by former Hard Livings gang boss Rashied Staggie led police to one of three luxury cars travelling in convoy, loaded with stolen whisky, cigars and guns.
Staggie was arrested.
The allegedly reformed gang leader and three other suspects were traced to the N1 near Canal Walk where they were arrested on Thursday during police investigations into a theft in Joburg.
Expensive whisky, cigars and firearms were stolen from the City Deep suburb earlier this month.
At the time of Staggie’s arrest, the second time he has been taken back into custody since his release on parole less than three years ago, Staggie was wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet as per his parole conditions.
On Thursday Correctional Services spokesman Manelisi Wolela said the bracelet would now be removed since Staggie was now in custody.
His parole officially ends next year.
“We’re also conducting our own investigation (into his arrest),” he said.
Staggie and the other three suspects are expected in the Cape Town Magistrate's Court on Monday.
Asked to comment on Friday, Staggie’s lawyer Janos Mihalik told Weekend Argus he had not known of his client’s arrest.
But he said Staggie had been worried it would happen.
“He felt they wanted to put him away,” Mihalik said.
Prior to his arrest Staggie was involved in giving motivational talks mainly to young men involved in gangsterism and drug abuse.
Without naming Staggie on Friday, provincial Hawks spokesman Lieutenant Lloyd Ramovha, said four suspects were arrested on Thursday while police were following leads in the Joburg theft case. That
case was reported at the Cleveland police station in Gauteng.
“Three luxury vehicles driving in a convoy on the N1 near Canal Walk were stopped and searched, resulting in the arrest of four suspects aged between 20 and 60 years old, after three handguns, several boxes of expensive whisky and cigars were found in their possession,” Ramovha said.
The items were confiscated.
Staggie and the three other suspects face charges of unlawful possession of firearms and ammunition, as well as suspected stolen property.
In 2003 Staggie was jailed for 15 years for his role in the kidnapping and rape of a teenage girl.
The following year he was sentenced to 13 years in jail for stealing firearms from a police armoury.
The sentences ran concurrently and Staggie served 11 years in prison.
In September 2013 he was released on day parole, which involved staying in prison at night and going home during the day. But he was arrested in December that year for apparently breaking his bail conditions by associating with known gangsters.
His day parole was then revoked, but was reinstated in February 2014 after his case was re-evaluated.