Police have cracked an insurance fraud syndicate and arrested three suspected serial killers for the murders of 21 people.
KwaZulu-Natal police have said the death toll may be higher as investigations are continuing.
Police are also investigating whether home affairs officials and bank employees were involved in assisting with fraudulent IDs or the opening of fake bank accounts.
The Durban Organised Crime Unit had found that a man and two women had been taking out funeral and insurance policies for people and then finding homeless people or prostitutes to kill so they could produce a death certificate and make the claims.
The earliest case dates back to 2003.
The alleged head of a fraud and murder operation, is a wealthy woman who lives in the affluent suburb of Dainfern in Johannesburg.
Maryanne Dimba, 38, was arrested in her lavish home where three luxury cars, among them a Jaguar and a Mini Cooper, stood in the garages.
Sibusiso Buthelezi, 23, and Brenda Mdluli, 42, were arrested in Durban on February 13, while the alleged mastermind, Maryanne Tholile Dimba, 38, was arrested in Johannesburg on April 3.
Dimba and her two co-accused, Sibusiso Buthelezi, 23, and Brenda Mdluli, 42, had allegedly murdered their victims in exceptionally cruel ways.
The victims were mostly homeless people and a few were prostitutes.
According to police information, all the victims were stabbed with a knife, at least 40 times. One victim had 72 stab wounds.
The three accused have pleaded not guilty in court.
Investigating officer Inspector Danie Reyneke said the syndicate used other people's identity documents to open bank accounts in the names of others.
The killers claimed they were a family member of the person and would deposit between R3 000 to R4 000 into the new account.
"They then take out insurance policies in that person's name, making themselves the beneficiaries. They use either their own or false IDs to do so. First they take out a funeral policy because that pays out within 24 hours and can be taken out over the telephone in a 10-minute phone call. The policy is for about R10 000 or R15 000," he said.
The next step was to take out life insurance for these people.
"They take out policies for small amounts so no one suspects anything. The most that one insurance company did to query the transaction was to phone the bank and make sure the person had enough money in their account to pay the monthly premiums, which they did," he said.
The policy would be paid for the first two or three months.
Reyneke said the syndicate would then "pick up" a homeless person or prostitute, lure them to their vehicle, "make them drunk until they pass out" and then remove anything which could identify them.
They then put in their pocket a piece of paper with the name of the person for whom the bank accounts and insurance policies were taken out.
This would end up being the so-called identity of the deceased. In another pocket, the three would put one of their names and contact details.
The person would then be stabbed. After the murders, some of the victims were further disfigured by having their faces driven over by a car so that police could not compare their faces with photos in false identity documents that the alleged murderers had obtained beforehand.
"Of all the bodies I investigated, none were stabbed less than 40 times. In the latest case in February, the woman was stabbed 72 times. They then leave the body on the road where it can be discovered soon. When the police arrive, they search the body and find the piece of paper with the contact details.
"They then phone this 'relative' who is actually the syndicate member, and he or she acts shocked and saddened by the death. They say 'yes, he's my brother'. Using the fake ID they then go to the mortuary and identify the body and get the death certificate from home affairs. The insurance claims can then be made," he said.
The police are investigating the operation by which the syndicate presumably had help from within the Department of Home Affairs.
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