Staff Reporter
Eight police officers in the Free State have been arrested for their alleged involvement in a business robbery, defeating the ends of justice as well as perjury.
All of them are members of the police’s tactical response team (TRT) in Welkom.
They have been arrested by the provincial anti-corruption unit and they are expected to appear in the Kroonstad Magistrates Court on Friday.
Provincial police spokesperson Brigadier Sam Makhele said in a statement the officers allegedly turned rogue while on duty in June when they accused a business owner of breaking lockdown regulations by selling cigarettes, which was prohibited at the time.
“It is alleged that on the 20th of June, 2020, the TRT members from Welkom had an operation at a supermarket in Station Street, Kroonstad, where they arrested the owner and his wife for contravention of the Disaster Management Act, for selling cigarettes during the lockdown period,” Makhele said.
In the process, he said, a large amount of money and cigarettes were confiscated by the police.
Makhele said the TRT members claimed in their statements they had been told by an unknown man they found smoking outside the shop that he bought the cigarette inside the shop.
The officers reportedly went inside the shop where they arrested the owner and his wife.
“The two were later released and money and cigarettes handed back to them,” he added.
However, trouble started when it emerged that the amount handed back to the owners was short and they insisted on getting back their money in full.
“An intensive investigation was conducted and it was . . . also discovered that the alleged ‘unknown male’ was known to the TRT members as he is related to one of the members,” Makhele explained.
The person has been identified as Thapelo Aldridge Mokoena and he has already appeared in court following his arrest earlier on.
The police have urged people who may have fallen victim to similar incidents to report such matters so that the alleged perpetrators may be brought to book.