Carjacking and Cross-Border Vehicle Smuggling Crack-Down Lands KZN Ring Leader 55-Year Jail Sentence

• Decades of terror from a KZN man have finally come to an end as a cross-border task team apprehends a highjacking and car smuggling kingpin
• Vusi Amos Zulu Malwane is slapped with a 55-year prison term for running a spade of carjacking in KZN communities and escaping prison
• National Police Commissioner says a cross-border task team has so far arrested 75 suspects in their four-month-old operation

INGWAVUMA - The Ingwavuma Regional Court has captured a cross-border vehicle smuggling and highjacking kingpin and sentenced him to 55 years imprisonment for countless offences.

Vusi Amos Zulu Malwane is said to have terrorised northern KwaZulu-Natal communities for over ten years. The sentence was handed down after he was apprehended by the Emanguzi cross-border operation task team.

The 44-year-old was rearrested on May 9 after he escaped custody in 2004

Read also

Former 'Era By DJ Zinhle' Employee to go on trial on fraud allegations, attempts for mediation were denied

Police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe says in a TimesLIVE report that Malwane ran a string of motor vehicle hijackings in Emanguzi and surrounding areas, smuggling the cars to Mozambique.

The kingpin's 55-year sentence was broken down into this list of crimes:

• Four years imprisonment for escaping from lawful custody
• Six years imprisonment for kidnapping
• 30 years for robbery with aggravating circumstances [hijacking]
• 15 years for possession of unlicensed firearms and ammunition

Head of police welcomes the arrest and commends the clamp-down task teams

IOL reports that the National Police Commissioner Lieutenant-General Fannie Masemola applauds the task team for arresting 75 suspects since its deployment four months ago:

“Following our interventions and deployments to the area, 37 vehicles have since been recovered, as well as 27 illegal firearms and 321 rounds of ammunition seized.”

Read also

Limpopo hotel double murder: police arrest ex-employee linked to brutal murder of Anneke and Hennie Claassen

South Africans however had mixed reactions to the progress made by the task team:

@Bongani53176751 had a question:

"Is our government scared to deport all undocumented immigrants, or are they voting for them?"

@SepaloDavid simply said:

"Finally!"

@NtsieniUnaado said

"Very soon we will ask @GovernmentZA why we should keep criminals like him alive?"

@KMchuba was not easily impressed:

"Prison escapee for 9 years, and involved in criminal activities for 10 years, all these years @SAPoliceService, @StateSecurityRS couldn’t catch him. What is wrong with SA security?"

@ChandoyiCharles said thank you:

"Siyabonga."

South Africa's highjacking stats spike

In another Briefly News report, it was revealed that carjackings in South Africa are at an all-time high in a late 2022 crime statistics report by the police.

The stats further revealed that between April and June 2022, 5 866 hijackings were reported across the country. At the time of publishing, South Africa was heading for the worst hijacking year in that decade.

Source: Briefly News