Communications wizard who by-passed Econet system vanishes

POLICE yesterday launched a hunt for Bulawayo's telecommunications wizard, Velaphi Hlabangani, 31, a day after he was fined $400 for operating an illegal telecommunication network system.

Hlabangani set up a fully-equipped mobile phone "call centre" and had 164 operational sim-cards which he used to make international calls free of charge.

On Thursday, he was fined $400 by magistrate Sibongile Msipa for violating the Posts and Telecommunications Act.

Yesterday, police visited Hlabangani's residence looking for him but were told he had left for an unknown destination.

It was not immediately clear why the police are looking for him.

Workers at the house confrimed that the police visited the place looking for Hlabangani.

Sithabile Moyo said: "Police came looking for him today in the morning but he was long gone. When we told them that we didn't know about his whereabouts they became harsh. Maybe they were suspecting we were hiding him. Mrs Bhebhe (landlord) left us a note informing us that Hlabangani left yesterday in the evening with a suitcase."

Moyo said they never suspected that Hlabangani was involved in any illegal activities as he led a normal life.

"We were shocked on Tuesday when police officers came looking for him. He was staying with his Kenyan friend, and they were always doing something on their computers," said Moyo.

The gardener at the place, Melina Mpofu, said Hlabanagani and his friend kept to themselves most of the time.

"They spent most of their time in their rooms. They usually woke up late," said Mpofu.

Bhebhe said Hlabangani moved into the house in February.
She described him as a good tenant.

"He was a good tenant, he paid his rent on time and I did not bother to check on his way of life.

After sometime he requested to lay optic fibre cables just outside the yard and I agreed as I did not suspect anything sinister," she said.

Bhebhe said she was shocked to learn that Hlabangani was involved in illegal operation.

Hlabangani was found in possession of 98 NetOne lines, 36 Telecel and 30 Econet 3G lines — all operational and fitted to an IP-PBX system.

Some of the highly technical equipment that he used included two media sim-boxes, 16 mobiles antennaes, a 3 Cisko link system with E2500 and four-port router, a complete computer set, a laptop with hypermedia management software and a mobile satellite.