At this point, I think we can safely call Marc Batchelor’s death a hit.

Whilst his connection to certain criminal underworld figures was always known, details that have emerged since his death seem to indicate that he angered the wrong people.

Having rolled with the likes of Mikey Schultz and Nafiz Modack, Batchelor was murdered outside of his home last week in a hail of bullets fired by two men on a white motorbike.

The latest reporting via TimesLIVE indicates that cocaine theft may have been involved:

A crack police team is investigating whether former footballer Marc Batchelor was killed in a revenge hit for his apparent role in the theft of a ton of cocaine smuggled into SA late last year.

This is the same team of detectives from the organised-crime unit that has been looking into the murder of Serbian national Ivan Djordjevic, who was shot dead in a similar manner at his Bryanston home in April.

Last year Djordjevic went into business with Batchelor, who ran a debt-collection company. The two, say police crime intelligence sources involved in investigating drugs smuggled through South African ports, were allegedly involved in the theft of the cocaine. The drugs came into SA via Port Elizabeth and Cape Town harbours in December last year, from Brazil and the Netherlands.

They had been dispatched by an Eastern European crime syndicate.

The Sunday Times understands the specialised team is looking at links between the Djordjevic and Batchelor murders, which could be in revenge for the alleged theft.

Batchelor’s fiancé, Cheré Gray (you may recognise her below, from her previous relationship, when she dated alleged woman beater, Andrew Turnbull), admitted that he had “enemies in the underworld”.

She believes that the hit was a “personal vendetta”, saying that her and Marc had been involved in “debt-collecting” since January.

Gray would run the investigations, and Batchelor would collect the debt.

When you see the numbers involved in that alleged cocaine heist, you can see why people would be angry:

The crime intelligence officers said two consignments, which Djordjevic and Batchelor were allegedly supposed to distribute, disappeared shortly after their arrival in Cape Town and Port Elizabeth in December. Three weeks later, the Hawks seized R700m worth of cocaine at Port Elizabeth’s Coega container depot, suspected to be part of the initial shipment.

Private security sources said detectives are also looking into debt collected on outstanding drug money and loans. Batchelor is believed to have recently got on the wrong side of an Israeli businessman after failing to pay over a R3.5m collection he made on the businessman’s behalf early in July.

A source close to the investigation added that Batchelor owed certain dangerous people money, whilst another source added that he had information that “at least three people, all believed to be Serbian”, were involved in Batchelor’s killing.

Those three people have since left the country. You can read that full story here.

Over on City Press, they’ve run through Batchelor’s run-ins with the law these past few years, of which there have been many:

City Press has established that two cases of assault – including one of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm – were laid against him. He was also arrested at least twice for complaints, including reckless and negligent driving, as well as for trespassing.

Batchelor also reported three assaults made on him to police. All of the assaults were reported at police stations in Sandton, Muldersdrift and Pretoria East…

City Press understands that, before his death, Batchelor and a friend were establishing a private security company offering protection services to nightclubs. This is highly contested terrain, which has seen gun battles erupting between security companies in Cape Town.

Now, say two highly connected underworld investigators, similar battles are playing out in Bedfordview.

In short, the man clearly had many enemies.

Journalist Mandy Wiener, who first broke many details of the hit, was on CapeTalk again, talking to Kieno Kammies. To listen to that interview, head here.

[sources:timeslive&citypress]