in murder
A murderer’s confession has offered an unprecedented insight into the shady dealings of the police elite in Durban
Paul Kirk
The deputy commander of the Durban murder and robbery unit, Superintendent Alan Alford, has been accused of being part of a drug-related contract killing involving the Hell’s Angels.
Alford features in the confession of one Andr Vogel, a hitman allegedly hired by a former murder and robbery detective and an accomplice to kill an alleged Durban drug dealer, Billy van Vuuren.
Vogel, who is serving a 32-year sentence for the killing, is being shuffled from one prison to the next for his own safety, while his confession continues to haunt the underworld.
Both the former murder and robbery detective, Bruce Bekker, and his accomplice, Jeff Meyer, who were directly implicated in the confession, were formally charged with conspiracy to murder last week, after having been charged with running a drug syndicate. Both men are on R100E000 bail.
The confession – a public document that offers an unprecedented insight into the murky exploits of Durban’s elite policemen – alleges Alford offered to cover up Vogel’s assassination of Van Vuuren. This is one of many instances of the senior policeman’s close involvement with a leading drug syndicate described in the confession, which was signed in 1998.
Alford is also alleged to have sold investigation dockets to the drug syndicate for as little as R2E000 a time. He is also said to have headed a gang within the murder and robbery squad, the members of which had to sport the tattoo “guns and roses”.
The same confession from Vogel launched an investigation into Piet Meyer, the suspended head of Durban’s organised crime unit, who goes on trial soon on a string of corruption charges. The confession is highly detailed, and at times confusing, because of the wealth of detail it offers about two Meyers – Piet Meyer, the policeman, and Jeff Meyer, who, according to the confession, is the head of a national drug syndicate that operates with the blessing of top policemen.
Sources close to the prosecution say that depending on the outcome of the Bekker and Jeff Meyer trial either Alford or members of the Hell’s Angels may be charged next.
The confession touches on a great number of unsolved and uninvestigated crimes in Durban. One of the charges being faced by Piet Meyer is defeating the ends of justice in an incident involving Lucky Sylaides – a Hell’s Angel. The incident occurred when Sylaides was arrested by Point Road detectives for shooting an unlicensed Uzi machine gun into the air in the middle of West Street – the heart of the Durban CBD.
Piet Meyer allegedly arrived at the police station and intimidated the detectives into handing over Sylaides, the investigation docket and the Uzi, both of which disappeared.
The Vogel confession names Sylaides as being involved in the conspiracy to kill Van Vuuren on behalf of the syndicate Meyer’s cronies were protecting.
Vogel also alleged that members of Meyer’s organised crime unit actively offered him assistance to murder Van Vuuren, who had set up as competition to their drug syndicate.
Vogel said Bekker approached him in mid-1996 and offered him R30E000 to have Van Vuuren murdered.
Vogel further claimed Bekker reassured him that he need not fear the police as Alford would “take care of everything”.
The confession claims Vogel hired an army special forces operator, David Lynch, to murder Van Vuuren. Despite several attempts at killing the 120kg bouncer, Lynch never succeeded.
Vogel then claims that Jeff Meyer in turn approached him and guaranteed payment of R30E000, assuring him of Alford’s co- operation in the murder.
He also threatened Vogel that he would have Vogel killed by his hit squad of former 32 battalion members should he not pull off the murder.
In his confession Vogel tells the tale of how he approached Joe Kitching – a good friend from Piet Meyer’s organised crime unit – for help. Vogel says Kitching and another detective, Theo Hollanby, arrived at the gun shop where he worked and were told about the contract.
Within days of this conversation Shannon Furlong, a member of the drug syndicate, was threatening to kill Vogel for having talked to police. Kitching and Hollanby had warned Bekker his hitman had cold feet.
Vogel, realising he could not trust the police to help him, then set up plans to murder Van Vuuren and save his own skin.
Vogel tells how he bought a .22 rifle and modified it by fitting a silencer. He then travelled to Johannesburg with a friend.
Vogel made the trip with four handguns and the rifle – but no ammunition for the rifle. After meeting Lucky Sylaides of the Hell’s Angels Vogel explained that he needed ammunition to kill Van Vuuren. Sylaides provided him with ammunition designed especially for use with silenced weapons.
After this, Vogel says, he drove to Chillers where he waited for Van Vuuren to come out of the club. As he did so, Van Vuuren was shot 32 times.
Within a week Bekker made the first payment of R10E000 to Vogel. A number of weeks later another R10E000 was paid. The last payment – of only R8 000 – was allegedly made by Kevin Brown of the Hell’s Angels. Brown allegedly kept R2E000 for supplying Vogel with a false passport.
Asked for comment about Alford’s involvement, Director Bala Naidoo, representative of the provincial commissioner of police, Moses Khanyile, confirmed the matter was being investigated by the special investigative unit of the Directorate of Public Prosecutions.
Despite initially telling the M&G that Kevin Brown – president of the Hell’s Angels in Johannesburg – was busy tattooing a customer at home, an assistant in his Rockey Street, Yeoville, tattoo parlour later said Brown was overseas on urgent business and would be back in South Africa in six days.