Pretoria – Seven police officers attached to the West Rand Flying Squad are set to appear before the Westonaria Magistrate’s Court to answer a charge of corruption.
Hawks spokesperson, Colonel Philani Nkwalase said the seven police officers are between 42 and 55 years old.
He said the seven will appear in court on June 19, after they were served with summons.
“They were served with court summons (J175) by the Hawks Serious Corruption Investigation (SCI) team based in West Rand from 1– 6 June 2023,” Nkwalase said.
“On 14 May 2020, during hard lockdown, the police officials allegedly visited a tuck shop in Bekkersdal looking for cigarettes as the sale of cigarettes was prohibited for the period.
“They reportedly found cigarettes after searching the tuck shop and the back room,” he said.
The owner of the business was arrested and the police team allegedly took R40 000 from the safe, and did not book it in the exhibit register when they detained the businessman.
“The matter was reported to the Hawks Serious Corruption Investigation for further exploration that resulted in the charge of corruption,” Nkwalase said.
In an unrelated matter, earlier this year, two police officers – a warrant officer and a sergeant attached to the Sekgosese police station in Limpopo’s Mopani District – were arrested at their workplace for allegedly selling a case docket.
At the time, SAPS spokesperson in Limpopo, Brigadier Motlafela Mojapelo said the complainant in the matter had allegedly paid R10 000 but the officers insisted on getting an additional R5 000 to cancel the case docket.
“Members of the provincial anti-corruption unit launched an investigation after receiving a complaint from the victim alleging that he received a call from one of the police members demanding a gratification amounting to R15 000 to cancel a case docket. After paying R10 000, the members reportedly insisted on getting the balance,” Mojapelo said.
The two police officers were arrested soon after allegedly receiving the balance.
IOL