Durban, Nov 10: Pakistani mafia is "one of the main" international organised crime groups operating in South Africa and is involved in several rackets to obtain fake identity documents for Pakistani nationals, according to an institute of security studies. The Cape Town-based institute for security studies, headed by former politician and academic, Peter Gastrow, in a detailed study, alleged that the Pakistani mafia make up the international organised crime syndicates in the country along with Nigerian criminal groups and the Russian and Chinese mafia.

Recently the Durban Police exposed a racket where Pakistani and local people of Indian origin were involved in trying to illegally obtain identity documents for Pakistani nationals.

The Pakistani mafia, operating in Cape Town and Johannesburg, allegedly runs sweatshops and pump out mandrax and "temple ball" - a cocktail of opium and compressed ganja, the institute says.
The institute's report comes at a time when the South African police services have arrested several Pakistani nationals in Johannesburg and Cape Town for dealing in drugs and counterfeit trade.

Bureau Report