Cape Town – A convicted steroid smuggler, at one stage on Interpol’s wanted list and previously found guilty in Ireland for selling illicit steroids worldwide, has been shot dead in his Constantia home.
News24 understands two men got into Brian Wainstein’s house shortly before 01:00 on Friday and went into his bedroom where they shot him several times. He was in bed alongside his young child and wife, but they were not wounded.
It is believed that the gunmen took three cellphones before leaving the house.
Police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Andre Traut on Friday confirmed a man, 45, was killed in his Constantia home.
“The motive for the murder is yet to be determined and no one has been arrested as yet,” he said.
Sources with knowledge of what happened say it appears Wainstein, also known as the “steroid king”, was the target of a hit.
Several murders and shootings have recently played out in Cape Town as an underworld battle over the nightclub security industry and illicit drug trade has intensified.
News24 spotted Wainstein at a popular Cape Town eatery late in 2016. He had been seen with some figures with links to underworld activities.
Wainstein, who also went by several aliases including Brian Benjamin, was arrested in Cape Town in 2013.
He reportedly had South African and Israeli citizenship.
Wanted
An August 2014 court document on the matter said the US government wanted him extradited on various criminal charges relating to “the illegal importation and marketing of various drugs, including anabolic steroids, in the United States”.
It was not immediately clear what had become of this matter.
Weinstein was at one stage on Interpol’s wanted list. He was wanted in Cyprus for drug-related crimes.
He however no longer appears to be on it.
Weinstein also reportedly worked via Canada, shipping steroids there from China.
Convicted
In 2007 The Irish Times reported that Weinstein was jailed for an effective four months for illegally selling body building steroids around the world from a south Dublin address.
It said Wainstein “received orders for the banned drugs by e-mail from customers all over the world, including the US”.
The Irish Times said Wainstein, who used the name “Barry Benjamin” in e-mails, had pleaded guilty in the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to nine charges relating to the possession, sale and distribution of the substances.
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