An army colonel stationed in Bloemfontein has been arrested by Western Cape police for allegedly supplying hand grenades, firearms and ammunition to Cape Flats gangs.
Colonel Johannes Jacobus Moses, 39, was detained at the Tempe army base in Bloemfontein by the provincial High Flyers Unit.
The weapons were taken from a strongroom at Tempe in 1998 and 1999.
Armed with an arrest warrant, investigators Captain Abe Enus and Inspector Frank Bailey arrested Moses at the base and drove to Cape Town with him last week.
He appeared in the Bellville regional court on Monday and will apply for bail next week.
The year-long investigation is believed to have been sparked by tip-offs from former army colleagues of Moses.
Apart from his army home near Tempe, where he lives with his wife and four children, Moses owns a house in Eerste River.
He joined the SA national defence force after completing matric in 1987 in Bonnievale, and was promoted through the ranks.
After the hand grenades went missing, Moses and senior army colleagues were asked to investigate the thefts.
According to the charge sheet, Moses allegedly drove from Bloemfontein to Cape Town several times in the late 1990s to sell the grenades to gangsters during the height of gang warfare and cash-in-transit heists in 1998/99.
In addition to the Tempe charges, Moses is alleged to have stolen grenades, firearms and ammunition from an army base and college in Ladysmith, KwaZulu-Natal, where he was an instructor in 1999.
He also allegedly travelled to the Cape Flats regularly from Ladysmith to supply gangsters with firepower.
In 1999, a large cache of hand-grenades was dug up in a bushy area in Bellville, but nobody was charged at the time.
According to a court document, Moses was acquitted of armed robbery in 1998 in Ladysmith.
It had been alleged at the time that he had supplied firearms and ammunition to the robbers involved.
At least two state witnesses in that case have disappeared without a trace.
A few weeks after Moses was acquitted, police pulled over a suspicious-looking vehicle in Ladysmith with three occupants.
Police identified the trio as suspects in several cash-in-transit heists committed in KwaZulu-Natal.
Moses's loaded service pistol was allegedly found in their possession, but he could not be linked to any crime.
The police will probably not oppose bail when Moses appears in court again next week, but will insist on stringent conditions. - Crime Reporter