Through intense collaboration between the police’s crime intelligence and the commercial crime units in Durban and Cape Town, the arrest of an extremely elusive alleged fraudster was made possible.
Claude Vincent Maart (41) believed to be the kingpin of the notorious “Yummy Mummy” gang was arrested on a warrant of arrest, together with an accomplice, at a house in Milnerton, Cape Town yesterday, Sunday 19 December 2010.
As per his usual modus operandi, Maart tried to evade arrest by introducing himself as another person and using a false identity document. The two men were found in possession of four stolen identity documents, two of which have already been linked to two cases of theft out of motor vehicle in the Cape Town area.
Maart and his gang allegedly pilfer personal documents, including identity documents, cheque books and bank cards and take over the bank accounts of the legitimate account holders, siphoning off tens of thousands of rand from each of the accounts.
In December 2009, an accomplice, Anthony Straus was allegedly flown to Durban from Cape Town by Maart. In a matter of a few weeks the two men allegedly siphoned over R393 000 from accounts of just two account holders and applied for several cellular phone contracts using the stolen bank cards, falsified identity documents and even a commercial airline pilot’s uniform.
In January this year, Maart was initially arrested together with Anthony Straus for their involvement in fourteen counts, including cases of receiving stolen property, fraud and theft. Straus has since been convicted and sentenced on 10 December 2010 to seven year’s imprisonment in the Specialised commercial crimes court in Durban.
While he was appearing in court on this case on 10 February this year and because he was facing the possibility of having his bail revoked, Claude Vincent Maart escaped from the Specialised Commercial Crimes Court in Durban.
Since his escape, Maart had led a gang dubbed the “Yummy Mummy” gang - a gang of men and young pretty woman. This gang would go on a rampage stealing identity and other documents at sports grounds, gyms, private school events, etc, and which they would later use to siphon money from accounts depending on the profile of the account holder.
This gang is known to have operated in the Cape Town, Johannesburg, Piertermaritzburg and Durban areas and the arrest of the kingpin is indeed a major breakthrough in our efforts to bring these types of fraud to a halt. It is likely that as investigations progress, more cases may surface against these accused.
Enquiries:
Vishnu Naidoo - Colonel Spokeperson
Tel: 012 400 6573
Cell: 082 567 4153
E-mail: mediacentre@saps.org.za
Source: South African Police Service
