On Friday, it was revealed that Colin Booysen and his associates used courier companies to distribute drugs and test quality through free samples.
Also read: How the family feud between the Booysen brothers led to gang killings
Booysen is the estranged brother of alleged Sexy Boys gang boss Jerome Booysen.
He was arrested alongside Sillico Oliphant, Moegamat Faizal Abrahams, Herbert Anthony Zoutman, Sipho Prince Khumalo, and John Edward Smith in July on various charges, including a R1.8 million-worth of mandrax case and three murders.
Zoutman, Khumalo and Smith are out on bail.
On Friday, Booysen, Oliphant and Abrahams had to convince the Bellville Regional Court on why they should be granted bail.
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According to the state, the group ran a steady supply of mandrax and ecstasy between Gauteng and the Western Cape, charging R17 per mandrax tablet wholesale and R50 retail.
The investigating officer read a long affidavit into the record to support the State’s opposition to bail. The document stated that Colin and Jerome used to work together in illicit activities.
The State revealed that on 1 February 2013, Durbanville police discovered several containers of chemicals, manufacturing equipment, and traces of mandrax powder during a raid north of Cape Town.
It was believed that the premises was a mandrax-manufacturing facility.
Thereafter, officers moved on to an address in Bellville, where they discovered a mandrax tablet press, more containers of chemicals used to produce mandrax, more mandrax powder and tablets.
Due to these findings, it was believed that Colin was separating his drug business from his brother, so police investigated him separately, News24 reports. Police conducted four drug investigations in Elsies River, Belhar, Bishop Lavis and Worcester.
The affidavit further stated that Colin was in charge of these affairs, despite having little contact with the drugs. He allegedly oversaw the operations while Oliphant was his second-in-charge.
The court also heard that drugs were transported via courier and that the packages were typically addressed to Oliphant. After Colin received the tracking number, Oliphant or other enterprise employees would then collect the drugs.
The goods would then be counted and reported to Colin, who would then fix a selling price and receive the proceeds.
Those who wanted to know about the availability of drugs would be referred to Oliphant, who would arrange for delivery or pickup.
If an employee was arrested, Colin would reportedly arrange legal representation and bail money.
‘In addition to the aspects mentioned above, Oliphant would also be ordered by Colin Booysen to find persons to test drugs. He would then report back to Colin Booysen,’ the affidavit reads.
The State also alleged that Colin and Oliphant were responsible for the murder of Marwaan Desai and Shameem Mohamed. The incident occurred near Howard Drive McDonald’s in Pinelands, Cape Town in June 2017.
Desai was allegedly surveilled before his death. According to an eyewitness, one of the shooters was seen trying to get something from underneath Desai’s BMW X5. Later, police found a tracking device under the SUV.
Communication intercepts and phone location history tied Colin to the murders.
Colin and Oliphant are also accused of the murder of gang boss Mark Groenewald in Reiger Park, Boksburg, in December 2017.
In 2018, Colin and Abrahams were arrested for the murder of Craig Mathieson, the night manager of Hotel 303 in Sea Point, owned by Mark Lifman at the time.
The group’s bail application was postponed to 8 August.
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