Criminals warned

2003-12-24 07:16

Philip de Bruin

Pretoria - In the past few weeks the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has completed investigations into the country's most feared and wanted criminals and it has warned that come January a major crackdown will take place.

Advocate Jan Henning, SC, deputy chief, said on Tuesday that his Christmas message to members of crime syndicates and to wanted criminals was "enjoy the last Christmas and New Years Day that you will spend outside of jail".

He said his office knew who these criminals were and they knew what they were up to. He said they would be caught.

According to Henning, South Africa would become the most hated country in the world for international crime leaders.

Henning is mostly in charge of investigations that have been wrapped up as well as undercover probes.

Henning said that from early next year, the Scorpions, police and other law enforcement agencies would begin their crackdown.

Despite not wanting to give names of those expected to be arrested, Henning did say that foreigners, particularly those involved in drugs, would soon be scared to do business in South Africa.

He also said another priority was the investigation into farm murders. "This makes me angry. We are going to hunt those killers. We now know who they are," he said.

Syndicates operating within government

Another area of concern was government corruption. He said his office had gathered a lot of information regarding this. He said they were aware of syndicates operating within government departments, such as foreign affairs, home affairs, the police and customs.

"We are going to get them," he warned.

Henning said that as part of their preparations for the major crackdown the NPA carried out a national survey on serious crime in certain areas.

He said all regional and high courts were involved and that this was done in order to draw up a priority list for a fast and effective crackdown.

He said that his staff had taken part in clandestine investigations in conjunction with law enforcement agencies, which has now put them firmly on the track of the criminal masterminds.

Henning said that all NPA directors would meet with him at the end of January to discuss arrests and resulting investigations.

He said however, that he could not promise a crime free country but that he could guarantee that by this time next year South Africa would be an unpleasant country for criminals.

- Beeld