Деон Мейер - Cobra

?

X: Yes. They say, two of them have met the Cobra. But in the beginning, few years ago, when he was selling

.

SM: Selling what

?

X: His service. You know. He had to market himself, in the beginning. As an assassin.

SM: Anything else?

X: Not really. OK maybe ... But you know this is really all (expletive) crap. Because of the snake on the bullets, they make up new things.

SM:Tell me anyway.

X:They say there’s this tattoo he has. Bird and a snake. On his arm.

Right here. Guy must love snakes

.

SM: That’s it

?

X: There’s nothing else to tell. Oh, they say, if you want to contact him, you place an ad on . . . what’s it called . . . . ? Loot. That’s it

.

SM: Loot

?

X: Yes. It’s a website in England where you can sell anything. So you place an ad and you use the word snake, like ‘snake for sale’ or something, some special code. And then he will contact you. (Expletive) snakes. I mean, you have to be a psycho man, to be that into snakes.

Griessel looked up at van Wyk. ‘There’s a lot of speculation.’

Van Wyk nodded. ‘It gets better. Read the next one.’

He picked it up and read.

INTERPOL

General Secretariat

200, quai Charles de Gaulle

69006 Lyon

France

Intelligence report: Cobra/B79C1/04/03/2007/27/6/2010

Report date: 27 June 2010

Report submitted by: Superintendent Marie-Caroline Aubert, InterpolGeneral Secretariat, Lyon

Investigation: Murder of Zakhar Perminov, Vila Praia da Ancora, Portugal on 13 September 2006

Source: Dossier of the Polícia de Segurança Pública, and personal interview with Superintendent Christóvã Formigo, Polícia de Segurança Pública, Lisbon, Portugal

(Translated by P. A. Shilling, Interpol, 28 June 2010)

At 07.55 on the morning of 13 September 2006, the body of Zakhar Ivanovich Perminov was found (by a Portuguese cleaning woman) in the living room of a villa on the outskirts of Vila Praia de Âncora, a coastal holiday resort in northern Portugal, about five kilometres south of the Spanish border.

Perminov had been shot twice – once in the forehead, and once through the heart. Bullets recovered from the crime scene indicated a Heckler & Koch MK23 (a weapon popular with American Special Forces) and Cor Bon ammunition (45 ACP +P 230 grain).

Two shell casings that were found on the scene match this firearm and ammunition. The casings were engraved with the likeness of a snake with a flared head, and the initials/letters NM (capitalised, no full stops).

The villa had no security measures, and no sign of forced entry was found. According to a statement by the cleaning woman the villa’s glass sliding doors leading to the pool were never locked when Perminov was in residence.

No forensic evidence of the intruder, other than the shell casings and bullets, was found on the scene. No arrests were made, and the dossier is still open.

Perminov, the deceased, was a Russian citizen. The Russian Embassy in Lisbon supplied limited details about the deceased’s career, but it was confirmed that he was a retired former Russian paratroop colonel. Perminov served as reconnaissance squad leader for the 103rd Guards Airborne Division in Vitebsk in Belarus, and was deployed to Mozambique as military advisor to the Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO) from 1978−1980. He also served in Angola as a member of the staff of the Soviet chief military advisor, Lieutenant-General Leonid Kusmenko, in 1986.

Re. Intelligence Report Cobra/B79C104/03/2007/19/03/2009:

After a written submission to the Mozambican Embassy in Paris, it was confirmed that Zakhar Ivanovich Perminov was registered as the father of Joaquim Curado. Joaquim Curado was born on 27 January 1979 in Cuamba, Mozambique, to Dores Branca Curado (herself born of a Makua mother and Portuguese father).

The Mozambican authorities also confirmed that the same Joaquim Curado is still a citizen of that country. A passport was issued to him (in the name of Joaquim Curado) in 1999, and was replaced by a new passport in 2003. (Note: It is common practice for the Légion étrangère [L.E. or French Foreign Legion] to confiscate enlistees’ passports, which might explain the replacement.)

This 2003 passport was used for a return journey from France to Mozambique in 2006, but no further legal entries/exits were logged.

It was further established that a Joaquim Curado, a Mozambican citizen (passport number corresponded with first issued Mozambican travel document), served in the Légion étrangère from 2000 to 2005 as Legionnaire 1e Classe (Lance Corporal/1st Class Legionnaire) in the 1st Foreign Regiment (1° RE).

(Note MCA:The insignia of the L.E.’s 1st Foreign Regiment [1° RE] is a framed bird of prey [black] and a snake [green]. See Intelligence Report: Cobra/B79C1/04/03/2007/19/03/2009, page 2:‘There’s this tattoo he has. Bird and a snake. On his arm. Right here. Guy must love snakes.’)

According to his partially and unofficially released L.E. records, Curado received special forces training, and showed no exceptional leadership skills. However, he was regarded as a proficient soldier and excellent marksman, and served with distinction in several African operations.

He is 1.89 metres (6 ft 2 inches) tall, and weighed 95 kg (209 lbs) at induction into the L.E.

Curado was honourably discharged from the Légion étrangère at his own request in 2005, having served his compulsory five-year term. In the same year, on the strength of his L.E. service, he was granted French citizenship, and thus now holds dual citizenship of Mozambique and France. A French passport was issued to him on 19 January 2006. The passport has not since been used for travel outside the European Union.

No current address was found for Joaquim Curado.

(Note MCA: A theory might be formulated that Joaquim Curado is the assassin known as ‘the Cobra’.)

* A photograph of Curado was supplied by the L.E. and is herewith attached. It was taken during his L.E. induction in 2000.

17

INTERPOL

General Secretariat

200, quai Charles de Gaulle

69006 Lyon

France

Intelligence Report Addendum: Cobra/B79C1/04/03/2007/04/ 07/2010

Report date: 14 September 2010

Report submitted by: Superintendent Marie-Caroline Aubert, Interpol General Secretariat, Lyon

Investigation: Series of murders in the European Union connected to ‘The Cobra’ (Original dossier Cobra/B79C1/04/03/2007)

(Translated by P. A. Shilling, Interpol, 15 September 2010)

With reference to the series of nine murders in the European Union

(2006−2010) where bullets recovered from the various crime scenes indicated a Heckler & Koch MK23 and Cor-Bon ammunition (45 ACP +P 230 grain), and shell casings were engraved with the likeness of a snake with flared head and the initials/letters NM (capitalised, no full stops): A theory might be formulated that the snake engraving represents the Mozambique Spitting Cobra:

1. The engraving shows a high likeness for Mozambique Spitting Cobra – also the scale and the size of the hood.

2. The genus name of

Naja mossambica

corresponds with the initials NM.

3. Interpol Intelligence Reports Cobra/B79C1/04/03/2007/19/03/2009 and Cobra/B79C1/04/03/2007/27/06/2010 indicate a credible link between the suspected hired assassin ‘The Cobra’, and Joaquim Curado, a Mozambican and French national.