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CRIME

Second arrest in killing of Swedish honeymooner

Police in South Africa have arrested a second man in connection with the murder of a Swedish newlywed on her honeymoon in Cape Town, national police Commissioner Bheki Cele said Thursday.

Second arrest in killing of Swedish honeymooner

Cele spoke to journalists shortly after 26-year-old Xolile Mngeni, the first suspect arrested in the case, made a brief appearance in a Cape Town court and had his case postponed.

Cele said police might arrest “one or two more” suspects as investigations continue, the Sapa news agency reported.

Mngeni and his co-accused, whose name was not released, are accused of abducting 28-year-old Swede Anni Dewani and her British husband Shrien Dewani on the outskirts of Cape Town last Saturday.

The hijackers released the 31-year-old husband, but his wife’s body was later found in an impoverished township neighbourhood southeast of central Cape Town.

Mngeni has been charged with murder and robbery with aggravating circumstances, prosecutors said.

According to the newspaper Die Burger, Mngeni has admitted the murder to police, citing several media. However, there is no official confirmation from the police.

Mngeni was charged on Wednesday with Dewani’s murder.

His case was postponed to November 25 to allow time for a public aid lawyer to be appointed to represent him.

Dewani, from Mariestad in central Sweden, had been in Cape Town celebrating her honeymoon with her new British husband Shrien when their car was hijacked by two armed men at an intersection.

The hijackers later released Shrien Dewani, but his wife’s body was later found in a impoverished township neighbourhood south of Cape Town.

Like Mngeni, the man whose arrest was announced Thursday is a 26-year-old resident of Khayelitsha, a poor area near where Dewani’s body was found, Cele said.

He said police have recovered two cell phones, a bracelet and a watch linking the hijacking to the two men already arrested.

He said the post mortem investigation did not uncover evidence of a sexual assault.

According to media reports, the post-mortem also showed that Anni Dewani died of a single gunshot wound to the neck and her body had been released to her family.

South Africa has one of the highest murder rates in the world, with an average 46 killings a day last year, according to official statistics.

Cape Town tourism officials have downplayed suggestions that Anni Dewani’s death represents an increased risk to visitors’ safety.

“There are thousands of incident-free tours and visits to the townships happening every year,” said tourism association chief Mariette du Toit-Helmbold in a statement.

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CRIME

Nordic justice ministers meet tech giants on gangs using apps to hire ‘child soldiers’

The justice ministers of Denmark, Sweden and Norway are to meet representatives of the tech giants Google, Meta, Snapchat and TikTok, to discuss how to stop their platforms being used by gang criminals in the region.

Nordic justice ministers meet tech giants on gangs using apps to hire 'child soldiers'

Denmark’s justice minister, Peter Hummelgaard, said in a press release that he hoped to use the meeting on Friday afternoon to discuss how to stop social media and messaging apps being used by gang criminals, who Danish police revealed earlier this year were using them to recruit so-called “child soldiers” to carry out gang killings.  

“We have seen many examples of how the gangs are using social media and encrypted messaging services to plan serious crimes and recruit very young people to do their dirty work,” Hummelgaard said. “My Nordic colleagues and I agree that a common front is needed to get a grip on this problem.”

As well as recruitment, lists have been found spreading on social media detailing the payments on offer for various criminal services.   

Hummelgaard said he would “insist that the tech giants live up to their responsibilities so that their platforms do not act as hotbeds for serious crimes” at the meeting, which will take place at a summit of Nordic justice ministers in Uppsala, Sweden.

In August, Hummelgaard held a meeting in Copenhagen with Sweden’s justice minister, Gunnar Strömmer, at which the two agreed to work harder to tackle cross-border organised crime, which has seen a series of Swedish youth arrested in Denmark after being recruited to carry out hits in the country. 

According to a press release from the Swedish justice ministry, the morning will be spent discussing how to combat the criminal economy and particularly organised crime in ports, with a press release from Finland’s justice ministry adding that the discussion would also touch on the “undue influence on judicial authorities” from organised crime groups. 

The day will end with a round table discussion with Ronald S Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress, on how anti-Semitism and hate crimes against Jews can be prevented and fought in the Nordic region. 

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