Elite cop in vehicle theft probe
03 May 2012
A MEMBER of Nelson Mandela Bay’s elite police tactical response team (TRT) is being investigated for his alleged role in a car theft syndicate operating in the Bay.
Constable Sinethemba Gwadiso of Motherwell, Port Elizabeth, was arrested with three other men – Shaun Bennet, 19, Zolani Ngcidolo, 22, and Mzandile Sebana, 34 – while allegedly trying to steal a Mazda parked in Mosel Road, Uitenhage, on Friday night.
Police spokeswoman Colonel Priscilla Naidu said two police officers became suspicious when they saw the four fiddling with the car.
"When they went to investigate, they found an Allen key in the door of a Mazda,” she said.
"When the men saw the police van approaching, one of them pretended to be urinating near the vehicle and he was then joined by two other men who had been seated in a nearby car.
"All four men were searched and the officers found a driver’s licence and various cards belonging to someone else in one of the men’s pockets.
"While police were escorting the suspects to the police station, they received a call about a Nissan bakkie that had been stolen in Mosel Road, not far from where the suspects were found,” Naidu said.
"It turns out that the driver’s licence and cards found on one of the suspects belonged to the owner of the bakkie.”
The Uitenhage vehicle inspection section is investigating whether the four are linked to any other vehicle theft cases.
The men appeared in the Uitenhage Magistrate’s Court on Monday and all – with the exception of Sebana – were released on R1000 bail.
Senior officers close to the investigation said Gwadiso’s suspension papers had been sent to provincial commissioner General Celiwe Binta’s office for a decision.
"We have recommended his suspension and suspect he will be suspended by the end of the week,” one officer said.
Gwadiso’s arrest comes barely a year after two members of the same unit were arrested for allegedly beating Somali shop owner Osman Nuur Mohamed to death in Kwazakhele in February last year.
Months later an eyewitness in that case, Alli Abdul Omaar, 30, was shot dead inside the same shop and a few days after that the second key witness, Abdullah Mohammed Sheik, was beaten unconscious by two balaclava-clad men and left for dead on the side of the road.
The two TRT members were released on R1000 bail each.
In an unrelated incident, another TRT constable was arrested in August for allegedly shooting Nigerian Raymond Ojini, 40, in the shoulder during a heated late-night argument in Central. He fled the scene but was arrested hours later and two police firearms were allegedly found hidden in the vehicle.
The increase in incidents involving the TRT prompted Independent Police Investigative Directorate director Francois Beukman to warn police management to "instill discipline and have command and control over members ... attached to special units”.
He said there had been "numerous reports of unwarranted attacks on civilians” by the elite unit.
http://www.peherald.com/news/article/5927
