Crime intelligence ‘employee’ Morris Tshabalala, a convicted armed robber, in the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court during his bail application yesterday. Picture: Jacques Nelles
On Friday, it was widely reported that former crime intelligence cop Morris “KGB” Tshabalala had allegedly poisoned himself after hearing that his parole was revoked and that he was now a sentenced prisoner.
Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) investigators went to Kgosi Mampura II prison in Pretoria to check on the condition of the notorious former officer and to investigate the poison claims.
The former police captain has at least two former criminal convictions, for armed robbery, masterminding a cash-in-transit heist and attempted murder. Despite this he was able to work for crime intelligence and get the highest clearance in the police service.
He is among many police officers who have either committed crimes or are alleged to have done so and first became known to the police in 1994 when he was arrested for an armed robbery in Mamelodi, Tshwane.
After a lengthy court case he was convicted of robbery and given a 10-year sentence. By 1998, when his appeals had failed, he disappeared. He is understood to have entered the police service in 2002 where he worked on high-profile cases, including a reported foiled assassination attempt on then president Jacob Zuma at the ANC’s Mangaung conference in 2012.
He and five other accomplices were then arrested in 2013 for allegedly robbing a cash-in-transit van with R3 million in Sasolburg. They allegedly attempted to murder one of the security guards.
In 2016, after serving less than three years at Sasolburg’s Groenpunt prison, he again started to work for the police after his release.
It has been widely speculated that Tshabalala was also the mastermind behind a R200 million foreign currency heist stolen from OR Tambo International Airport by a group of men driving a stolen police van and two smaller cars.
Captain KGB is also accused of stealing money from the police and was finally dismissed by the SAPS in January.
He faced five charges of theft, corruption and fraud for allegedly submitting fraudulent invoices for the installations of blinds, in order to claim hundreds of thousands of rands from the crime intelligence secret service in 2013.
Journalist Karyn Maughan reported on Saturday morning that Tshabalala is now recovering in jail after being discharged from hospital last night.
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