A national drug syndicate, apparently involving high-profile Durban club owners and policemen who protected them from the law, has been exposed during the conviction of a Durban drug dealer for the murder of a nightclub bouncer.
Billy van Vuuren, formerly of Durban, was gunned down in a hail of 32 bullets outside Johannesburg nightclub Chillers on Valentine's Day 1997.
The man who admitted to the crime, an employee of the BKB gun shop in Mobeni, 34-year-old Andre Vogel, was jailed for an effective 31 years for the "contract" killing for which he says he was paid R30 000 by leaders of the syndicate.
He had pleaded not guilty on the basis of "non-pathological criminal intent", claiming to have been a drug addict at the time.
During his trial he made several startling statements to the Johannesburg high court, naming members of the drug syndicate to which he belonged, giving a breakdown of how it worked and its links to the Johannesburg-based syndicate (the Hells Angels) and alleging that policemen gave the syndicate protection.
He named the syndicate's kingpins as former Durban nightclub Jamb Lounge owners Jeff Meyer and Bruce Bekker.
And he also claims that these same men paid him the R30 000 to kill van Vuuren.
Bekker, a former murder and robbery policeman, and Meyer are both presently awaiting trial along with nine others on drug dealing charges.
In both written statements and oral testimony, Vogel claimed during the trial that the syndicate had police protection.
He said that Bekker told him that the price of Ecstasy was high because it included "protection money".
He was also told that a docket could be bought for R2 000. Vogel names the senior policeman as being a serving member of Durban's murder and robbery unit, saying Bekker told him that the man "looks after us".
He also told the court that senior members of Durban's organised crime unit were seen fraternising at parties with members of the syndicate.
He alleges that at one time he had contacted a friend who worked for the South African Narcotics Bureau (then part of the organised crime unit) and gave him and another policeman information regarding the syndicate.
"When I look back, I realised that they never took a statement from me and seemed to be doing things half-heartedly."
After this, he battled to get hold of drugs and was told by Bekker that there were rumours he was talking to the police.
One evening at a nightclub, another syndicate member had "pulled an imaginary trigger" at his head.
"I realised I had been sold out by the organised crime unit."
Vogel claims that he had been approached by Bekker and Meyer to find somebody to carry out the hit on van Vuuren, who had apparently become a problem because he was beating up their runners and taking away their drugs and money.
At that stage van Vuuren was still living in Durban, but the hit was never carried out.
But, with an escalating drug use problem and under suspicion of being a police informer, Vogel said: "I realised that I had more problems than ever and the only escape for me was to shoot Billy, take the money and flee the country."
He acquired the rare gun, a collector's item sniper's rifle, through his job at the gun shop and sent it to Kroonstad for it to be modified to a full automatic and to have a silencer fitted.
He met up with Barend Visser (a medic stationed at Natal Command who will stand trial on similar charges in January) and the two travelled to Johannesburg in a car Visser had allegedly stolen from Military Intelligence.
He went several times to Chillers, the Randburg nightclub where van Vuuren worked, and even spoke to him there before taking the decision that he would shoot him on the night of February 14.
On that night, he said: "I asked the Lord to give him to me if it were God's will. I was shocked to see he was not there, but then at midnight he arrived. There was no turning back."
He told the court that he had shaken van Vuuren's hand and asked him why he looked so sad. He had replied that he had just lost a friend and Vogel recalled thinking "you will meet him just now".
When the club closed, Vogel was waiting outside.
"I turned on the sight (on the gun) and waited until he was a few metres away and then shot him in a short burst in the chest. He fell over backwards. I changed positions. I aimed for his neck and gave a short burst. I realised that he would never survive."
On his way back to Durban the next day, Vogel says he telephoned Bekker who said he must lie low.
After a while, R10 000 was deposited into a bank account.
"Bruce (Bekker) was very worried and said he had to pay the money out of his own pocket and I should get out of the country."
Weeks later, the next R10 000 was paid in and then the last payment of R8 000 was paid in cash directly to him by Kevin Brown, the alleged leader of the Hells Angels.
He was also given a false passport by Brown who again mentioned the senior Durban policeman, saying he was "very worried".
Vogel eventually contacted police and was arrested.
The syndicate is the focus of a continuing probe by the special investigative team of the National Director of Public Prosecutions - now part of the newly formed "scorpions" crime-combating unit.