A Smith Street family was left traumatised after what they think was a heavy-handed police raid at their home. The family, who preferred not to be named, has laid charges of, among other things, assault after 12 people, claiming to be members of the elite Hawks Unit, arrived at their house last Tuesday.
A family member told the Courier that the mother, a daughter and their domestic helper were at home at around 9am when three cars arrived. One of the cars, a Toyota Corolla, had the Hawks Special Operations logo on the door.
“The group – spearheaded by a woman – grabbed the maid who was outside and walked into the house.
“They made our elderly mother sit on the floor even though she suffers from osteoporosis.
“They even said if we do not co-operate they would ‘f—-n slap us’. We asked for a warrant but they replied they do not need one as they were acting on a tip-off”. When asked what they are looking for, they replied ‘illegal cigarettes’.
“We told them we had none. We wanted to call our dad but they would not let us.” An outhouse behind the main house is being rented out by Indian nationals who use the room as a warehouse for their Victoria Street supermarket. The police approached two of the men who were on the property and proceeded to beat them, the family told the Courier.

“The men claimed that cigarettes were stored in the outbuilding but that everything was above board. The police did not seem interested. The two men were cuffed and put into separate vehicles.” At that stage, the woman leading the team said the family could call their father and husband.
When he arrived at the house, the police were full of apologies. However, they did take with them the keys to the main house and outbuilding. It was also discovered that a cellphone, that had been in one of the bedrooms, had also disappeared.
Later, a third Indian national – believed to be a brother of the two men who were taken away – arrived at the house, desperately looking for his relatives.
It was thought that they had been taken to the Newcastle police station. The man of the house went to the Dundee police station to report his unhappiness over the rough treatment meted out to his family. However, the local police had no knowledge of the operation. “Shockingly, while our dad was at the police, the two Indian nationals, who had been taken away, arrived at the station. Both had clearly been beaten up and looked disheveled.
They were even barefooted. They claimed that the police had taken them on to the Greytown road where they were threatened with petrol and told them would be set alight if they did not hand over R2-million.
“It is unclear if the men had been formally charged or if they had laid charges against these Hawks members.”
The story took another twist when it was revealed that the Hawks had also picked up the third brother while he was walking on McKenzie Street.
He also claimed to have been beaten up. The police demanded money from him and he took them to his shop and handed over R40 000 in cash.
Later, he was dropped off on the Wasbank road. Captain Mhlongo, Hawks spokesman in KZN, told the Courier that the Hawks had no scheduled operations in the Dundee area and that the vehicles they use are ‘fully branded’ with no ‘stick on stickers’. Further investigations are underway.