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Arms dealer caught smuggling cell phone into prison
| Lynn Williams
Gqeberha firearms dealer Karen Webb, who faces a litany of charges relating to the Firearms Control Act, is in hot water for allegedly smuggling a cell phone into prison.
Webb, 40, who has been denied bail, made a brief appearance in the city’s Magistrates Court last week, where a further five counts were added to her charge sheet.
It is understood that Webb got hold of the cell phone between being transported to and from court and hid the device inside her bra.
A spokesperson for the Department of Correctional Services in the Eastern Cape, Nobuntu Gantana confirmed that the cell phone was found in Webb’s possession, upon her return from court.
“The Department of Correctional Services can confirm that during a routine search when returning from court, a cell phone was found on Remand Detainee: Karen Webb.
“It needs to be mentioned that in terms of Chapter 4.3.2 of the White Paper on Remand Detention Management in South Africa, 1994, the South African Police Service has the responsibility to transport remand detainees to and from courts to detention facilities.”
Gantana said an investigation is underway to determine the circumstances in this matter.
She also confirmed that a criminal case was opened for possession of contraband while Webb is in custody and that the “inmate” will also be charged for contravention of Correctional Service Act 111 of 1998 as amended.
On Tuesday the court heard that an additional five charges of theft, for failure to provide clients the firearms which they bought from her, were brought against Webb.
The long list of existing charges includes theft, conspiracy to smuggle firearms, fraud, the unlicensed trading of firearms, providing firearms and ammunition to persons who are not allowed to possess them, and defeating the ends of justice.
Her arrest on 8 February forms part of an ongoing police investigation into how firearms got into the possession of gangsters in the city’s northern areas and other provinces.
Besides 76 firearms that had been positively linked to crimes in the city’s northern areas and as far as the Western Cape and Gauteng, evidence was led that suggests that 437 of the 900 firearms registered on Webbs Arms are unaccounted for, but later found.
The theft charge relates to ten 9mm Glock pistols that went missing from the Aquila Arms’ stock while the cache was stored at her premises.
Webb will appear in court again on 30 September.
source:Arms dealer caught smuggling cell phone into prison (algoafm.co.za)
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