First blood drawn in ‘Tobacco Wars’
Industry player Simon Rudland barely escaped an assassination attempt yesterday, while a Sars official was targeted at his place of employment in Durban.
First was the “Sars Wars”, when the South African Revenue Service was gutted by maladministration and an intelligence-driven agenda by players in the tobacco industry.
The sequel is the “Tobacco Wars”, and blood has now been spilt.
Simon Rudland, co-owner of the Gold Leaf Tobacco Corporation and a member of the Fair Trade Independent Tobacco Association (Fita), on Thursday, 15 August, barely escaped a murder attempt outside the association’s offices, where he was due to attend a meeting.
Video footage showed Rudland pulling into Fita’s driveway in Orchards, Johannesburg.
A vehicle stopped behind him and its occupants fired nine shots at him. One hit him in the neck but Rudland still drove himself to hospital.
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