In what must rank as one of the most successful operations in post-apartheid South Africa, a police colonel who controlled the Gauteng firearms register was sent to jail for 18 years last week. Colonel Chris Lodewyk Prinsloo pleaded guilty in the Bellville Regional Court to over 20 charges of racketeering, corruption and money laundering. For at least six years the top cop and a colleague sold an estimated R9-million worth of lethal illegal weapons and ammunition to Cape Flats ganglords as well as right wing extremists in Gauteng. Considering this victory one would think SAPS Acting Commissioner Lieutenant-General Khomotso Phahlane would lead this small team of detectives in a victory parade through the country. Instead he has sidelined their superiors. By MARIANNE THAMM.