Booysen's CAS

Digital evidence including WhatsApp and Telegram messages show consistent communication between Tumelo Nku and Samuel Mashaba regarding containers suspected to conceal illicit goods and logistics around transport and retrieval.

“The analysis of the extracted handset data, WhatsApp chats, Telegram messages, Three mac screenshot images, call data records and movement reports indicates a consistent pattern of communication and utility between Tumelo Nku, and Samuel Mashaba and other identified individuals ... The Three mac communications show repeated references to containers, vessels, Pier 1, Customs, seals, truckers, transporters, and stuff ... The communications further indicate that Tumelo Nku, using the alias Philipp Plein, was in direct communication with the user identified as Alpha ... The cell phone data records places Tumelo Nku in the vicinity of Durban and KwaZulu-Natal during relevant periods when the Three mac conversations concerning containers and port activities took place, including May 2021 and July 2021 ... The Telegram communications between Tumelo Nku and Samuel Mashaba, including the shared route to Yellow Jersey Logistics, together with call data records and images found on Tumelo Nku's device, establish a further linkage between the subjects, Yellow Jersey Logistics and the container later found at Aeroton crime scene ... The images recovered from Tumelo Nku's device, including images of bags wrapped in black tape and images reflecting container or transport information, further corroborate the communication and movement analysis relating to the container and its contents ... The call data records analysed in respect of Tumelo Nku, Yellow Jersey Logistics, Sandra Engelbrecht, Samuel Mashaba, Warrant Officer Phokungwana, and Marumo Joseph Magane show communication linkages before and on the day of the incident, including the sharing of locations and contact numbers relevant to Yellow Jersey Logistics and the movement of the container ... The WhatsApp and Telegram communications between Tumelo Nku and Samuel Mashaba establishes that there was an existing relationship between them prior to the incident and that their communication included... The totality of the digital evidence analysed indicates that Tumelo Nku played an active role in monitoring, facilitating, and communicating about the movement of containers from the port of Durban to Gauteng, and that it was linked to communication and movement data to other persons relevant to Booysen's CAS ... The digital evidence supports the existence of a coordinated network of individuals communicating across encrypted messaging applications and ordinary cellular platforms in relation to the movement of containers, transport arrangements, and the suspected retrieval of illicit goods.”