JOHANNESBURG, June 20 (Reuters) – South Africa has arrested
20 police officers suspected of running a crime syndicate for
contract murder, intimidation and theft, the police service said
on Wednesday, one of the biggest single swoops of its kind.
The arrests, in the country’s second biggest city of Durban,
come after the appointment earlier this month of a new
commissioner to clean up a department hit by several
high-profile graft cases.
“This is the first phase of the investigation. We expect
that more arrests will follow in the next phases,” the police
said in a statement.
Many of those arrested will appear in court on Thursday.
South Africa has one of the highest murder rates of any
country outside a war zone, with crime seen as deterring some
foreign investment in Africa’s largest economy.
(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Louise Ireland)
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