Friday, March 24, 2017

Crimes of the South African Police Service

Police officers held in crime swoops

Nowhere to run: Rochelle Roberts takes a fingerprint reading with the new MaxID identification system

Two Eastern Cape police officers and four from other provinces have been arrested for allegedly being linked to criminal activity.

Hawks spokesman Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi said all the arrests on Friday were linked to separate cases.

The officers cannot be named until they appear in court.


A 30-year-old constable from Mthatha was arrested for the murder of a 23-year-old woman on New Year’s Eve. The policeman allegedly had an affair with the victim’s mother and the victim told her father. “The father confronted the wife who in turn informed the constable and an assassin was hired to eliminate the deceased,” Mulaudzi said.

“On Friday, the organised crime unit team arrested the alleged hitman who spilled the beans on the alleged involvement of the constable.”

The alleged assassin was found in possession of an unlicensed firearm and had been linked to another murder.

In a separate incident in Port Elizabeth, a 45-year-old warrant officer was arrested after allegedly causing an accident with a police vehicle while under the influence of alcohol.

Mulaudzi said the officer was on duty at the time and also tried to flee the scene. “[He] was restrained by traffic officials until his arrest by police,” he said.

Other officers who were arrested include a 32-year-old constable based in Durban who allegedly tried to extort money from a suspect to quash a 2008 murder case and three constables in North West for bribery.

In all the cases, the officers will appear in various magistrate’s courts today.

-Gareth Wilson