Safe goes
missing at Police Station
A Police Constable
from Alberton Police Station has been arrested following the theft of a police
safe at Alberton SAPS last week. Also, five other members including the Station
Commander, VISPOL Commander and SAP 13 (exhibit room) official have been
suspended with immediate effect for poor management and maladministration.
This follows the
theft of a police safe at Alberton police station on 22 March 2013. The
Constable was arrested late last night after an intensive police ...investigation. The five other members have
been suspended due to maladministration and a failure to comply with standing
instruction. More arrests and suspensions are imminent.
This follows an incident where a safe containing an undisclosed amount
of cash, a cellular phone, one firearm and three gold rings was stolen. The
safe which was at the SAP 13 (exhibit) store, was dragged along the passage and
removed out of the stores. It was allegedly loaded into a vehicle. The camera
at the gate of the station was also tampered with.
The Gauteng Provincial Commissioner, Lieutenant General Mzwandile Petros
said there are clear procedures in the police in terms of how to handle cash
which is handed in as exhibits and the cash was not supposed to be in the safe
in the first place. Police investigation is continuing into the disappearance
of the safe.
An audit team of experts is currently conducting an extensive
investigation at Alberton Police Station and preliminary reports are that other
exhibits including a vehicle are also missing from the storeroom. Further
criminal cases have been opened and arrests in this regard are expected.
