Cape Town - Manenberg police have uncovered a murder plot in which gangs lure rival gangsters into their fold, only to off them in “revenge killings”.
Two suspects were arrested following the discovery of the body of a 28s gang member in Surrey Estate just over a week ago.
The find left cops confused as the area is not known for shootings.
The man was found lying face down near a canal without his shoes.
Officers on the scene found the man with gunshot wounds in his back and head and a stab wound on his chest, but were left baffled by why the man would be shot at that location.
When they inspected his body, they found he had several 28s gang tattoos.
Lifted
Acting station commander, Colonel Sanele Zama, says detectives lifted fingerprints off the corpse and identified the deceased as Vernon Felix, 29, a convicted felon.
Zama said Felix was jailed for a year after being found guilty of being in the illegal possession of ammunition.
“He had been released from prison just two weeks before he was killed after being found guilty on an ammunition case,” Zama explains.
“When he came out, he jumped camp and joined the Clever Kidz gang.
“On the morning when he was killed, members of his new gang went to his house and lured him out, telling him they were going to smoke drugs.
“They then told him they would go to Gatesville to rob people but as they walked there, the gang turned on him and shot him in the chest.
“According to the post-mortem, he was also shot in the head as he tried to run away and died near the canal.”
According to a highly placed source, the Clever Kidz gang apparently suspected Felix of being involved with the murder of one of their members in Manenberg more than two years ago and took revenge on him.
“He was never linked to that murder by the police while he was a 28s gang member but that was apparently established by the Clever Kidz according to their own intel,” says the source.
Meanwhile, Zama says detectives arrested two members of the Clever Kidz gang, aged 27 and 28, for the murder of Felix over the weekend.
The duo appeared in the Athlone Magistrates’ Court yesterday but at this stage cannot be named, says Zama.
“The investigation is at a sensitive stage so at this moment that is all we can confirm.”