Cape Town - Links between alleged underworld kingpin Nafiz Modack and police in Durban were laid bare in the Western Cape High Court yesterday amid ongoing testimony into his alleged attempts to extort a Cape Town businessman.
Chuckles were heard in the courtroom as a Durban cop took to the stand to tell Judge Robert Henney of his eagerness to meet Modack.
He dubbed Modack as “the Robin Hood of Cape Town” and “Pablo,” in reference to the Colombian drug lord.
Warrant Officer Kelvin Shunmugan flew in from Durban on Monday to take the stand amid testimonies centred on the extortion of a client of criminal lawyer William Booth.
The client, known as “Mr C”, testified from Dubai, saying he fled the country after Modack’s “Hells Angels” were allegedly hired by Durban businessman Shanil Maharaj.
Maharaj, who also took the stand, told the court that he hired Modack to recover over R500 000 for an investment deal that went sour, with the belief that it was a “legal collection”.
According to the State’s case, Modack’s co-accused Jacques Cronje met with Mr C to extort the funds from him and also threatened to kill the witness and his family by placing a bounty of R300000 on their heads.
In Maharaj’s testimony he told the court that Modack had put him in contact with Shunmugan.
It is understood this was also to pursue a criminal case against Mr C.
Sitting in the dock and grinning, Shunmugan told the court about his eagerness to meet Modack and his affiliates after following them on Facebook.
He said he was impressed with their security detail and jumped at the chance to be introduced to Modack’s affiliate, Anwar Gallie.
“In Durban we follow on Facebook what is happening in Cape Town.
“He (Modack) was a small guy taking on the giants and was the Robin Hood of Cape Town.”
Shunmugan further said during video calls between Gallie and Modack, that he heard Gallie refer to Modack as “Pablo”.
Gallie, who was also known as “Gustavo”, was arrested alongside Modack several years ago on gun-related charges in Johannesburg.
He said while he never met Modack, he was in contact with him via a cellphone.
He told the court that he had traced Mr C, but after his arrest, they were informed that he could not be detained. He said no reasons for this were supplied.
Meanwhile, an American who developed the software allegedly used by Modack’s co-accused, Zane Kilian, to ping cellphones also took to the stand.
The developer, who is now a 204 witness (a witness that can be indemnified from prosecution once they testify), told the court that he had a contract with MTN and the pings were sold to various entities.
He said the contract would allow them to pass through secure communication protocols to obtain the location of cellphones operating on the Vodacom and MTN networks.
The witness explained that each user is assigned a unique username that is used when accessing the platform in the attempt to obtain the GPS co-ordinates of a cellphone.
Cape Argus