A Durban cop who brazenly testified about colluding with alleged underworld kingpin, Nafiz Modack, was given a tongue lashing by Judge Robert Henney, who accused him of abusing his authority.
Silence fell over the Western Cape High Court room on Wednesday as Henney lambasted Warrant Officer Kelvin Shunmugan as questions arose about his involvement in having a businessman arrested amid an extortion probe into Modack and his henchman.
This comes just a day after the cop who is stationed at the K9 Unit in Durban told the court about his eagerness to meet Modack's affiliate, Anwar Gallie, after following them on Facebook.
He told the court he was excited to meet Gallie and jumped at the chance to assist Modack, who he said was known to him as "Pablo", with reference to the Colombian drug lord Escobar Pablo.
Shunmugan said he assisted Modack to have a State witness arrested amid claims by a Durban businessman, Shanil Maharaj, that the witness, “Mr C”, had stolen over R500 000 from him after an investment deal went belly up.
Mr C testified that he subsequently fled the country after he received death threats, and told Henney of the harassment at the hands of “Modack's Hells Angels” in an attempt to extort him.
Shunmugan confirmed that he helped in getting the State witness arrested in the middle of the night, but said the man could not be detained after ‘higher ups’ intervened.
Henney questioned Shunmugan extensively on why, in his position as a dog handler, he got involved in the case.
The judge said in his opinion the cop was trying to curry favour with Modack, saying it was evident in text messages on the arrest of the State witness where he used terms such as “f*** him”.
Henney said: “You weren’t assigned to that case, you were not the detective, you were not asked by the investigators to assist. You had no power to assist Mr Modack.
“After the arrest you rejoiced in the arrest of Mr C. You boasted, and I am of the impression that you did this to curry favour with Mr Modack.”
The judge called the actions of the cop “improper, unethical and illegal” and said he wondered how no action was taken against Shunmugan for assisting Modack in an extortion matter.
Shunmugan tried hopelessly to defend himself, but Henney did not mince his words, adding that the policeman “had no business“ involving himself in the investigation.
Meanwhile, Modack’s lawyer, Advocate Bash Sibda, told the court that Modack never called himself Pablo.
Instead, he says, Gallie was obsessed with the Narcos television series and even named Modack’s parrots and German Shepherd dogs after drug lords.