AN INSURANCE gang was arrested after allegedly leaving a trail of bodies in the Eastern Cape.
The seven were allegedly arrested for hit murders driven by a sinister motive to claim insurance payouts.
Police made a breakthrough in these deaths, apparently unrelated to life insurance claims on Friday, 15 September.
According to Colonel Priscilla Naidu, the arrests were made through a joint effort by the team comprising the Queenstown Homicide and Robbery Unit, the Commercial Crimes Unit from Cradock, and other several units from Nelson Mandela Bay.
During the arrest, police also seized a firearm, three magazines, 95 live rounds of ammunition and two cellphones.
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"Six of the seven suspects were arrested at Kwanobuhle and Despatch in Nelson Mandela Bay. The suspects were wanted in several murder cases where the motive for the murders was greed and fraud (insurance claims)," she said.
The arrests followed more than 10 months of intensive investigations by the Queenstown murder & robbery and Cradock commercial crimes investigation unit, which linked the syndicate to numerous contract killings in Kwadwesi, Kwanobuhle, Despatch, Whittlesea and Kamesh.
The suspects were linked to these cases through ballistic connections and insurance policies. The seventh suspect is in St Albans Prison awaiting trial for possession of a firearm. He will be charged along with the other six suspects.
Provincial commissioner Lieutenant-General Nomthetheleli Mene praised the exceptional work of the dedicated police investigators.
"This success marks the beginning of our fight against organised crime, and I am confident it will open the doors for more arrests to dismantle criminal networks that threaten our communities," Mene said.
