Police in Cape Town have confirmed that alleged underworld boss Cyril Beeka, while driving a bakkie, was gunned down in a drive-by shooting over the weekend.

According to spokesman Joe Wilson police can confirm that it was Beeka who died in the shooting but they can only speculate as to the motive at this stage.

Beeka, a former bodyguard of National Intelligence Agency boss Moe Shaik and an Umkhonto we Sizwe informer during the apartheid struggle, was allegedly shot by men on a motorcycle while driving near the University of the Western Cape in his BMW SUV.

Eyewitness News on Tuesday say that Beeka was with a Russian national called Sasha – who was wounded during the incident - at the time of his death. According to the report Beeka was well known in the ANC’s top circles and had links to axed Ekurhuleni metro police chief Robert McBride.

Beeka was alleged to have been a key player in Cape protection rackets and was previously accused of murder. He was also reported to have had links to Czech fugitive Radovan Krejcir a leading figure in the Lolly Jackson and Uwe Gemballa murder investigations.

During Cape Town’s infamous spy saga in 2008 Badih Chabaan, a councillor the DA accuses of using illegal methods to encourage defections from the party to an ANC-led alliance, said : “It’s not illegal to gamble and I’ve known Mark Liffman, Yurie the Russian and Cyril Beeka for many years, gambling with them. I will not apologise for my association with them - it doesn’t make me a criminal.”

Yurie “the Russian” Ulianitski was also a known mob boss who was cut down in hail of bullets.

In an article by IOL's Dale Granger in 2007 Beeka confirmed that Ulianitski had worked for him for a short period, but had subsequently decided to go on his own.

The article is worth reading even now to give people an understanding of the Western Cape's underworld.

In an article by IOL's Murray Williams also in 2007 the Russian was also murdered in a late-night ambush that killed his four-year-old daughter, Yulia as well.

In a report by Times Live’s Paddy Harper in Oct 10, 2009 “as the [President Jacob} Zuma campaign gained momentum and more ANC leaders got on board, [Mo] Shaik felt increasingly marginalised.

"By the time the party's landmark Polokwane conference took place in December 2007, he was reduced to attending as a "service provider", watching from the sidelines and creating controversy by attending with alleged gangster Cyril Beeka".

Police have made no arrests in connection with the incident.