Pubdate: Fri, 03 Aug 2012
Source: New Age, The (South Africa)
Copyright: 2012 TNA Media (Pty.)
Contact:  http://www.mapinc.org/media/5339
Author: De Wet Potgieter

POLICE ARE PART OF DRUG PROBLEM

The ceasefire serves no purpose. Our people must unite and stand
together against this threat

"IT is just a matter of time then we will come knocking on your doors
in the fancy suburbs where you are living," Pagad's national
coordinator, Abdus-salaam Ebrahim, warned the drug lords this week.

The People Against Gangsterism and Drugs' (Pagad) leader told the New
Age in an interview at its headquarters in Athlone, Cape Town, that
Pagad is not a Muslim organisation, but a movement for the people.

He said they are mobilising countrywide and will take the war against
drugs to the doorsteps of those faceless drug lords who live in
comfort as "respected" citizens in upmarket suburbs in South Africa.

Pagad wants to expose, name and shame them, he said. "We need to
educate the people - get the people's minds right - that the drug
lords and gangsters are not as mighty as they think they are,' he
said. In the 1990s we had the drug dealers running."

He called on the police to admit that they are losing the war against
drugs in the country. In Ebrahim's opinion it all started when Jackie
Selebi got into bed with drug lords like Glen Agliotti and other mob
bosses and started disbanding all the police's specialised units in
order to pave the way for syndicate bosses to rule the country.

According to Ebrahim most of the firearms used by gangs on the Cape
Flats are guns which were handed in to police stations as a result of
the new firearm licensing system. "Those guns are back in the hands of
the gangsters." He claimed the main reason that gangsters are getting
so brazen in their turf wars is because they operate hand in hand with
corrupt police officers providing top cover for them.

"Where the people's children are drugged, raped and killed and police
and government fail to protect its people, the people have the divine
right to protect themselves by any means necessary," Ebrahim said. He
does not see the physical shooting between gangsters as the problem,
but describes the gang violence as part of the "chemical warfare"
being waged against law abiding people of South Africa.

Referring to the ceasefire called between the warring gangsters
recently, he added that this will not make the problem go away.

"The ceasefire serves no purpose. Our people must unite and stand
together against this threat.

"The police know how and from which countries like Afghanistan,
Pakistan, India and China the drugs come through the harbours and
airports into South Africa and despite the stream of information on
drugs being passed on to the police by the police forums, nothing
significant is being done to act," Ebrahim said.

"The people do not trust the police. The police are no longer the
solution, but had become part of the problem," The New Age was told.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Matt