Durban vendor helps arrest ‘corrupt cops’
May 25 2012 at 10:02am
By Lungelo Mkamba and Kamini Padaychee
INLSA
Kuben Govender sits on his car bonnet after helping metro police officers to arrest an SAPS officer and two men impersonating policemen who allegedly robbed him. Picture: DOCTOR NGCOBO
Taking matters into his own hands, a Durban cigarette vendor who was allegedly robbed by a policeman and two other men impersonating police officers has helped to bring some of the suspected culprits to book.
Earlier this week, 35-year-old Kuben Govender teamed up with metro police officers to arrest three men.
Govender said the men had approached him at his store on Parthenon Street at the Phoenix Plaza, flashed police badges and demanded his cigarettes.
“They were wearing SAPS jackets and demanded to know who my supplier was, and said I would be arrested for selling counterfeit cigarettes,” he said.
“I told them the cigarettes were legal, but a gun was pointed at me.”
Govender was then taken without his consent to his house in Phoenix.
There, Govender said, the men wanted to search his house, but they left when his brother told them they could not do so without a warrant.
“They left with R400 of my cash and took R1 000 worth of cigarettes. That is when I assumed they were corrupt, and I was afraid to open a case because they knew where I lived.”
Govender said he had then made it his mission to track down the men.
He said he searched townships around Phoenix and for the men’s Toyota Avanza.
“I could not allow them to get away with what they did,” he said.
“By chance, I saw the white Avanza on Wednesday driving towards Phoenix Plaza. I had to be careful, so I followed them with my car and phoned Sergeant Imraan Moolla, of the KwaMashu metro police crime prevention unit.”
When the men tried to flee, Govender drove in front of their car and blocked them.
“They tried to reverse, but the metro police arrived and blocked them off as well. They then arrested the three men.”
Govender said he immediately identified two of the men as those who had robbed him a week earlier.
Police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Vincent Mdunge confirmed yesterday that one of the men was a warrant officer. He is believed to be based at an SAPS satellite police station in the city centre.
The other two men were impersonating police officers. One of them had a fake police appointment certificate and had been a police reservist in 2010.
Mdunge said the trio were believed to be linked to several robberies in Phoenix, including one at an ATM at the Phoenix Plaza where a woman was robbed of cash and jewellery.
“The men were found in possession of cigarettes, cash and jewellery taken during the robberies.”
They would be charged with robbery and pointing a firearm, and would appear in court soon.
