In 1994, a detective based in Gauteng was investigating a number of cases involving motor vehicle thefts, dealing in drugs, forgery, fraud and other charges. When he compared notes with a colleague, they realised that some of the cases they were investigating involved the same suspects and that they therefore had to do with a network of criminals. It became clear that there was a ‘bigger picture’ which needed to be investigated. At that stage the two detectives were working on a total of about one hundred dockets which appeared to be related to this network. The nature of the available evidence, however, was such that they were unable to proceed to court to charge and prosecute any of the suspects.

It was evident to the detectives that covert investigative methods would have to be relied on to get to the root of the matter. After a full motivation, the Organised Crime Unit approved and registered a project entitled Operation Mynah in March 1995.39 The approved budget was R986 400 of which an amount of R250 525 was eventually utilised.

As happened in Operation Judas, a multidisciplinary investigation team was assembled, involving undercover operatives and experts in electronic monitoring devices. In the course of building up detailed profiles of the suspects, a picture emerged which indicated that a number crime syndicates were involved a wide range of criminal activities, including cross-border crimes. Various forms of co-operation existed between these syndicates on which they relied to pursue criminal activities such as wide scale theft and hijacking of motor vehicles, insurance frauds, dealing in illegal drugs, forgery and theft. Stolen motor vehicles were being smuggled across the South African borders to neighbouring countries such as Mozambique and Zambia in exchange for drugs or even other vehicles. The relationship between the various syndicates and the individuals involved is set out in Diagram 5.

Syndicate A

This syndicate, headed by Venter, consisted of about eighteen white men and women. They all worked for and through Venter and specialised in insurance fraud, forgery and theft. No specific structure was in place. There was one leader, with the remaining members occupying equal status. Venter personally trained his members to ensure that they acquired the necessary skills for their tasks. Members of the syndicate, for example, would place advertisements in the name of an agency in the classified section of newspapers, aimed at people who were in financial difficulties and who were no longer able to afford monthly instalments on hire-purchase agreements in respect of motor vehicles purchased through banks and other financial institutions. Individuals who found themselves in difficulty would soon respond to the advertisement and Venter or other members of the syndicate would conclude an agreement with such individuals to relieve them of their financial burden, but also of their motor vehicles. A typical agreement would provide that the agency takes over the payment of all instalments to the financial institution in exchange for the motor vehicle which, the agency explained, would be used in its fleet of rental cars.

The syndicate member would then continue to pay the monthly instalments to the financial institution for a further two or three months, during which period the vehicle would be disposed of in one of various ways. Once the instalment had stopped, the financial institution would contact the original purchaser and threaten him with legal action. The original purchaser, under the impression that the ‘agency’ had taken over all instalment obligations, would contact the agency to obtain clarity. The purchaser would immediately be intimidated and told that, by ‘selling’ and handing over the vehicle to the agency he had committed a criminal offence and that it was in his interest to report the vehicle to the police as stolen. This ploy inevitably worked and numerous cars were obtained illegally by the syndicate through this method.

Some of the syndicate’s members, such as Ruby, had the necessary contacts and expertise to forge documents and to sell stolen vehicles to other criminals for their further use. Syndicate C was the main market for Venter’s illegally obtained vehicles. Although Venter and some of his members would occasionally take stolen vehicles across the borders, the members of Syndicate A were not involved in stealing or hijacking vehicles from streets. However, they were supplied with vehicles obtained in that way by Syndicate B.

Syndicate B

This was a small, loose syndicate consisting of three or four persons who lived in townships and who had contacts with many criminals. Members of this syndicate either stole motor vehicles themselves or obtained stolen and hijacked vehicles from other criminals and then supplied Venter and his syndicates with such vehicles. According to the police, the criminal world has a very well-developed, albeit informal, system of advertising either the availability, or the need for stolen cars. Seasoned individual car thieves will normally have three or four telephone numbers of individuals through whom they can dispose of their stolen cars. Members of Syndicate B would therefore also be approached by others with stolen or hijacked cars because it was known that the syndicate had a ready market for these vehicles. It was therefore able to provide a constant supply of stolen vehicles to Syndicate A.

Syndicate C

Syndicate C was the centre of the criminal activities of those syndicates that were investigated by Operation Mynah. It consisted of about twenty Asian and four or five white individuals. The two Salim brothers were firmly in control of its activities with the purse strings being kept by their mother. The various syndicate members had specific tasks or skills which enabled their syndicate to become one of the most influential ones in the country.

Some were drivers who would smuggle vehicles across borders to Mozambique, others looked after the security of the Salim brothers. Syndicate C also had experts who, similar to the activities of Syndicate A, specialised in fraud and insurance scams relating to motor vehicles. One of the members was the personal assistant of the Salim brothers and all communication with them was channelled through him. He operated their cellular phones and had to approve any contact with the two syndicate leaders. A valued member was Ruby, who was an expert forger of passports and other documents and who had the necessary contacts in government departments to enable him to obtain false documents and information. Ruby was held in such high regard that his services were sought after by more than one syndicate.

Sam and his four or five helpers had no other function than supplying the Salim brothers with stolen vehicles. Strictly speaking, they were not part of Syndicate C because they also supplied stolen and hijacked vehicles to other syndicates. The main business of Syndicate C was that of smuggling stolen vehicles, received from Venter, Sam and others, across the border, mainly to Mozambique.

Syndicate D

This syndicate constituted the Mozambique contact of Syndicate C. It consisted of about eight Mozambicans who were based in Maputo and to whom the stolen vehicles were delivered. The future sale and delivery of those vehicles were entirely in the hands of the Mozambican Syndicate D. In exchange, cash or drugs would change hands. Members of the Salim syndicate, or the drivers whom they employed, were accommodated and looked after in Maputo by Syndicate D.

Syndicate E

This syndicate consisted of about nine Asians and three or four whites. Prior to becoming a syndicate on their own, they had formed part of Syndicate C. As a result of a dispute with one of the Salim brothers, a split occurred and this newly constituted syndicate also started delivering stolen vehicles directly to Mozambique. It appears that, in order to avoid unnecessary rivalry, an arrangement was entered into in terms of which Syndicate C would make use of Syndicate E for the purpose of smuggling some of its stolen vehicles across the border. In order to remain on good terms with the Salim brothers, Syndicate E also developed Swaziland as a market for the stolen cars which it had acquired on its own initiative.

Syndicate F

The activities of this syndicate were similar to those engaged in by Syndicate A. It consisted of about twenty white males and females and specialised in fraud, theft and forgery in relation to motor vehicles. Most motor vehicles acquired in this way were supplied to the Salim brothers of Syndicate C although members of Syndicate F would also, on occasion, drive their own stolen vehicles across the borders. Ruby, already referred to as a member of Syndicate C, also worked with this syndicate. He felt at home in Syndicates A, C, and F because of the skills that he could offer.

Syndicate G

This group consisted of about twenty white and black South Africans. Their main activity related to the smuggling of stolen vehicles across the country’s borders. Their experience in this activity led to the Salim brothers selling some of their stolen vehicles to Syndicate G with the knowledge and understanding that they would be smuggled across the borders as arranged. The activities of Syndicate G were not in direct competition with those of Syndicate C because the main markets for the stolen cars smuggled by Syndicate G were in countries other than Mozambique, such as Botswana, Malawi and Zambia.

Contact points between the Syndicates

Venter was the undisputed leader of Syndicate A. The only line of communication between Syndicates A and B was between the two syndicate leaders. It was clear that the syndicate leader of the smaller Syndicate B was ‘junior’ to Venter who carried more weight than him. The same rule applied between syndicates A and C. In this instance, however, Venter accepted that he was in a ‘junior’ relationship with the Salim brothers. The relationship which Sam had with Syndicate C was such that he reported directly to the two Salim brothers and to no other member of that syndicate.

With regard to communication between Syndicates C and F, the only line of communication was through Ruby who worked with both syndicates. The leaders of these two syndicates had no contact at all.