Lieutenant General Dr Godfrey Lebeya, National Head of the DPCI, known as the Hawks, says they secured convictions for over 600 accused during their first quarter. Lebeya held a media briefing to review first-quarter progress and milestones for 2024/2025 including an update on the high-profile Durban case.

ARRESTS

Lebeya said a total number of 673 suspects, representing 637 natural persons and 36 juristic persons, were secured before the various courts in the country.

"Of these natural persons, 489, which is 77%, are South Africans while 148, which is 23%, are foreign nationals. Of the 673 suspects, the Serious Organised Crime Investigation secured 370, the Serious Commercial Crime Investigation secured 234, while the Serious Corruption Investigation secured 69 suspects."

He added that during these arrests, 68 firearms and 1,797 rounds of ammunition were seized and the suspects were nabbed on various charges including corruption, fraud, money laundering, police killings, cash-in-transit robberies and illegal mining.

"Most of the arrests were made in the Gauteng province with 167, KwaZulu-Natal province with 114, North West province with 92, Mpumalanga province with 57, and Eastern Cape province with 56 suspects."

CONVICTIONS SECURED

The DPCI head added that not only were arrests made, convictions were secured against 506 accused.

"Of these convictions, 262 accused persons, inclusive of 12 juristic persons, were sentenced, while the balance of 244 convicts, inclusive of 15 juristic persons, are to be sentenced on dates after the quarter under review. Of the 262 sentenced natural persons, 173 are South Africans while 77 are foreign nationals."

He said 77 court orders were granted in relation to the assets associated with crime. "These make the total recorded successes on arrests, convictions and attachment of assets to 1256," he said.