US Forces And South Africa Police Arrest 8 Leaders Of Nigerian Cult, Black Axe, In Cape Town

Alleged leaders of a big transnational Nigerian syndicate known as the Black Axe had been arrested in early morning raids in Cape City on Tuesday.

 

Press Informant understands that six leaders of the Black Axe organised crime group’s Cape City chapter had been arrested in a co-ordinated operation involving the Hawks and US law-enforcement authorities.

 

A seventh member of the group, who is just not a part of the management of the organisation, was additionally arrested. It’s believed {that a} eighth individual affiliated to the Black Axe organisation was additionally arrested in reference to a separate however associated case.

 

The founding father of the Black Axe “Cape City Zone” was amongst these arrested, Press Informant sources mentioned.

The group is believed to be behind a whole lot of 1000’s of “romance scams”. These had been allegedly perpetrated by members of the group who used relationship websites to fulfill aged women and men from all over the world who had been both widowed or divorced, and scamming them out of their cash.

 

The Black Axe members arrested within the early hours of Tuesday morning are additionally alleged to have scammed firms out of tens of millions of rand utilizing a enterprise electronic mail compromise rip-off.

 

The scams are subtle and have extremely organised Nigerian syndicate members, working primarily from the Desk Bay space alongside Cape City’s west coast, posing as rich pensioners on the lookout for love.

 

The Neo Black Motion of Africa is a reputation interchangeably used for the mafia-style organisation that began on college campuses in Nigeria within the Nineteen Seventies.

 

Black Axe positioned itself as an organisation for the liberation of black individuals all over the world. Nevertheless, it was quickly labelled a cult and banned beneath Nigerian legislation after it turned synonymous with felony exercise globally.

 

Regulation-enforcement sources informed Press Informant that the Black Axe has a powerful presence in SA the place members typically marry South Africans to get residency or citizenship, making it simpler to entry nations together with Canada, the US, the UK and Germany.

 

The group additionally has a powerful presence in Italy the place Italian authorities arrested a number of members this yr, alleging the group works intently with the Camorra, one of many greatest Italian mafia teams, in different illicit actions together with the drug commerce and human trafficking.