Underworld investigation - Hawks zoom in on grenades and ammunition
29 November 2017
Cape Town - Hawks investigators are trying to piece together what the intended purpose was for four grenades and 3 000 rounds of ammunition, discovered at a location linked to a suspect in the murder case of international steroid smuggler Brian Wainstein.
In addition, they are probing the origin of the items.
It is the second time in seven months that explosives have cropped up in underworld operations.
During a massive clampdown in the Cape Town city centre in May, police officers had been authorised to search people for illegal firearms, ammunition and explosives.
On Tuesday, the cache of weapons, including ammunition, grenades, firearms and two military radios, were discovered at a storage facility in Kraaifontein and a residential home.
The properties are linked to brothers, Sheldon and Matthew Breet, who were arrested on Saturday for the murder of Wainstein, also known as the international "Steroid King", in his Constantia home on August 18.
The brothers appeared in the Wynberg Magistrate's Court on Wednesday, along with a third accused, Fabian Cupido.
Cupido was arrested in October.
This, after he was detained following an alleged attempted attack at the Cape Town hospital where alleged Sexy Boys gang leader Jerome "Donkie" Booysen was admitted. Booysen was hospitalised after an attack on him at Cape Town International Airport.
The case against the Breet brothers and Cupido was postponed to early next year.
'Stockpile' of grenades and guns
On Wednesday, Western Cape Hawks spokesperson Captain Lloyd Ramovha confirmed to News24 that investigators were looking into the origins of the grenades and ammunition seized, as well as what they may have been intended for.
Ramovha, late on Tuesday night, said investigators had "uncovered a stockpile of ammunition, grenades, firearms and military hand radios".
He said some of the items seized were discovered in a car which Matthew had allegedly driven before his arrest.
In a mammoth clamp down held in the Cape Town city centre in May, explosives had also been focused on.
An authorisation for that operation allowed for officers to, "without a warrant, search persons, premises, vehicles, receptacles or objects of whatsoever nature, in order to seize illegal firearms, ammunition and explosives and any object referred to in section 20 of the Criminal Procedure Act".
In that clampdown, members of the Hawks, the special task force and the national intervention unit from Johannesburg had combed through nightclubs, and effectively blocked off Long Street.
Matthew’s arrest on Saturday marked the second time he was taken into custody in four months.
He was initially arrested in August for allegedly being in possession of prohibited firearms and ammunition.
This arrest was said to be linked to the discovery of an abandoned luxury Jeep parked at a fast food outlet in Sea Point in April, which was found with two guns, ammunition and tactical jackets in it.
Sources at the time said a group of men had gathered there planning to intimidate club owners in the city centre and surrounds.
