The chilling world of organised crime: Land, air and sea

There are several ways to understand what organised crime is: it is inherited webs of illicit and licit activity; it is both visible and invisible; it is a classic case of greed exploiting desperation – and it is all around us.

The frightening thing about it, according to respected investigative journalist Caryn Dolley, who presented a Summer School lecture at the University of Cape Town (UCT) on Friday, 24 January, is that we may not know that we are supporting it.

Dolley’s lecture was titled, “Organised crime on our doorstep: Exposing the ‘underworld’s’ extensive reach”. She said the reason underworld is in inverted commas is because “the underworld does not exist; there’s no separate world to us”.

“People hear the word organised crime and immediately think bullets, shootings, guns and gangsters. That’s not the full picture, because there’s money laundering and racketeering too. Organised crime happens all around us and it’s infuriating because it’s on land, in the air and at sea. It’s our environment. It has no borders.”

Dolley arrived armed with examples to illustrate just how much corners of society have been infiltrated. “When I say organised crime has no borders, think of ‘cryptoqueen’ Ruja Ignatova, who is said to be one of the most wanted individuals, according to certain agencies, after operating a huge scam known as OneCoin. She is believed to be in Cape Town, South Africa, and she hasn’t been murdered at sea, as [it] had been believed.”

South African representative

This possibly leads back to a host of Bulgarian suspects who were fatally shot in their home in Constantia in May 2023.

“Another crime that emphasises that there are no borders has to do with fentanyl. In the United States of America, we know it is driving an overdose crisis and it’s been confirmed to me that it has entered the drug conveyor belt of drug trafficking in South Africa,” Dolley told the audience.

“Five people were arrested following the discovery of a drug laboratory on a farm in Groblersdal in July last year, and three of them are from Mexico. Again, law enforcement confirmed to me that three of them may be linked to the Sinaloa Cartel, which means that the deadliest, criminal organisation on the planet is active in South Africa. I’ve spoken to a retired senior major general, he has gone on record before saying every single cartel in the world has a representative in South Africa.”

Port of Durban

Turning to matters at sea, Dolley let out a chuckle, almost as to prepare the audience about the story she was about to relay: “The port of Durban is undeniably favoured by drug traffickers across the world. And what worries me is when police file reports about an intercepted shipment is: what have they not intercepted? And we have had instances where police officers and law enforcement officers have been arrested in connection with intercepted shipments. I’ve asked Transnet about what is happening with security at the Durban harbour and apparently at one stage they were building a secure perimeter fence; if they’re building a secure perimeter fence, what’s there now?”

South Africa recorded several drug trafficking mule arrests coming in from various parts of the world. Brazil was a particularly popular nation over the festive period. “The one thing that I always think about when air travelling is, ‘I wonder what’s in your bag,’?” she said with a laugh as the audience chuckled in return. “Questions exist about whether these drug busts are legitimate. In other words, are these meant to distract from a larger consignment?”

Her penultimate example included a case which rocked the City of Cape Town when former human settlements mayoral committee member Malusi Booi was accused of being part of an enterprise that used unlawfully obtained tenders to enrich themselves. The State also alleges that suspected 28s gang boss Ralph Stanfield and his wife, Nicole Johnson, headed the enterprise.

Two days after being granted bail in the unlawful tender case, Booi’s co-accused, Abdul Kader Davids, was murdered in Cape Town. All of this, according to Dolley, may have its genesis in the February 2023 murder of city official Wendy Kloppers at a housing development project in Delft.

The point Dolley makes with these examples is how widespread the matter is and how at every level there are enablers and benefactors.