By Johnathan Paoli
Independent Police Investigating Directorate (IPID) KwaZulu-Natal deputy director Len John has said that certain police officers allegedly steer accident-scene towing work to preferred operators, as part of a relationship he believes allows tow trucks to move drugs with little interference from police.
Appearing before the Madlanga Commission on Wednesday, John said that certain station-level police officers had relationships with tow truck businesses and allegedly received “incentives” for directing work to them.
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“We have identified that with the tow trucks, you’ll get police officers who will give jobs to certain tow trucks in order to get a, you can call it a payment, from them, more like an incentive. You call a tow truck and they will pay you like a commission,” he said.
John said the relationships had created an environment in which tow trucks could allegedly be used to transport and supply drugs, including by passing through police roadblocks without being searched.
Asked by evidence leader Matthew Chaskalson how drugs and tow trucks came to be linked, John said the connection had emerged through IPID’s investigations.
John said the relationships between officers and tow truck operators extended beyond the allocation of jobs.
“Police are very much involved in the tow truck industry. They have their friends in the tow truck. They know the tow truck that they can communicate with,” he said.
He told the commission that this created “free rein” for criminal activity.
“We believe that the tow trucks are used for transporting drugs. I’m not saying all the tow trucks, but in many of the cases, the tow truck industry and the drug industry go together,” he said.
“And the reason they do that is because they have police friends that don’t even stop them and search them. Even at roadblocks, they have a free passage to go through. So that is the conclusion that we come to, is that the tow truck industry and the drug industry are actually related to each other,” John added.
Commissioner Sandile Khumalo pressed John on how the alleged allocation of towing work operated.
John again said individual officers at the same police station could have their own preferred operators.
“When there’s an accident in a station area, certain policemen have their preference on who to call, which tow truck to call to the scene. And then you get another group of policemen from the same station, and they have their own preference on who to call to the scene, because they’re getting paid from those tow truck drivers,” he said.
Commissioner Sesi Baloyi asked whether the tow truck companies themselves were effectively gangs.
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John drew a distinction between the businesses and the criminal networks allegedly operating around them, but said they were connected through drug turf wars.
In his witness statement, John said three task teams had been established to combat illicit drug activity, cash-in-transit heists and taxi-industry crimes in the province.
He alleged that the teams had been infiltrated by criminal gangs.
The commission continues.
