Nineteen Limpopo police officers arrested for corruption
On Friday, 5 December 2014,
the National Commissioner of the South African Police Service (SAPS), General
RiahPhiyega, joined a special task team of members of Crime Intelligence and
detectives investigating the involvement of the police in distributing illegal
cigarettes.
The operation to arrest the
19 officers, which consisted of six warrant officers and 13 constables, started
at 4:00 this morning.
“We have been working on
this for nearly two years, gathering credible evidence against these officers.
They were allegedly involved in escorting vehicles carrying illegal cigarettes
from Zimbabwe in exchange for money. We obtained warrants of arrest for all 19
officers,” said General Phiyega.
She was speaking to the
media at the Morebeng Police Station (formerly known as Soekmekaar), where nine
of the 19 police officers were arrested.
Possible charges the
officers could face include corruption, defeating the ends of justice and money
laundering. The Finance Intelligence Centre has also been incorporated into the
investigation.
The officers, nine of them
from Morebeng,six from Maleboho, three stationed at Makhado and an officer
attached to the Botlokwa Police Station thought their eyes were deceiving them
when their own colleagues handcuffed them in full view of the National
Commissioner on Friday.
The arrested members
demanded bribes from people smuggling illegal cigarettes into the country.
After receiving the bribes, instead of arresting the suspects, the police
escorted the vehicle carrying illicit cigarettes, ensuring the suspects evaded
arrest by other law-enforcement officers.
General Phiyega said that
the police would stop at nothing in their efforts to root out corruption in the
SAPS. She said that South Africa deserved to be served by professional,
law-abiding police officers whose mandate it was to create a safe and secure
country for all.
“We have said in the past
and we say it again that police officers are not above the law. We are the
custodian of law and order and we cannot afford to fail the people who rely on
us for safety and security. There is no room for corrupt police officers in a
democratic South Africa and we will intensify our intelligence-led operations
to ensure all police officers with criminal mindsets are removed from the
Service,” said General Phiyega.
More arrests cannot be
ruled out. The arrested suspects have been suspended from the SAPS without
remuneration and will appear before various magistrates’ courts on Monday.
