Cops arrested for theft
2007-01-27 12:50
Johannesburg - Six men including five policemen and police reservists were arrested after the theft of cash and cellphone cards at a Germiston shop during a "search", said Gauteng police on Saturday.
The group was caught on a neighbouring shop's closed circuit TV when they got out of their marked police car and walked into the shop on Thursday evening.
The suspects were arrested within hours.
About R7 000 in cash and R10 000 in cellphone cards was stolen from the Espada Cash and Carry in Elsburg.
The group, some apparently in police uniforms with official police identity cards and using a police car, allegedly told the 19-year-old Pakistani shopkeeper that they wanted to search the premises for drugs.
They ordered the youth to open the safe and removed the cash and cellphone cards, telling him they were taking these to the nearby Elsburg police station.
Superintendent Eugene Opperman said the charge was "theft during a search" rather than robbery and that the men would appear in the Germiston magistrate's court on Monday.
The suspects were from the Eden Park police station.
"The fact that we acted so quickly shows what the provincial commissioner said - corruption will be investigated and we will act even against our own people," said Opperman.
He said some of the cash was recovered.
"They wore uniforms and had pistols and appointment cards, what must you do?" the shopkeeper told Beeld newspaper. He said he now feared for his life.
- SAPA