The Member of the Mayoral Committee (MMC) for Community Safety in Ekurhuleni, Councillor Khathutshelo Rasilingwane, has praised the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) for arresting three Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police Department (EMPD) officers.
The officers were allegedly involved in the possession of stolen goods, kidnapping, and defeating the ends of justice.
The MMC commended IPID for their efforts in ensuring that the law is upheld, as the agency is tasked to investigate wrong-doings that involve police officers or deaths as a result of police actions.
The officers were implicated in a crime that took place on July 6, 2022, when they went to Smokes and Kings Supermarket in Rynfield, Benoni, and confiscated boxes of cigarettes valued at R25,000. They then loaded the cigarettes into one of the metro police vans while taking an employee into another vehicle.
It is alleged that during the operation, the officers disconnected the surveillance camera inside the shop, and drove to Northmead with the employee under the pretext of having arrested him.
They demanded money and a cellphone for his release, and the victim allegedly gave them the R200 notes he had in his possession. The officers then dropped him off near the freeway in Northmead.
The police officers subsequently booked two boxes of cigarettes at the Benoni Police Station, and their warning statements indicated that the goods were found at an unknown property and that the owner was unknown because he had run away when he saw them. The officers also failed to open a case.
The officers are still presumed innocent until proven guilty, and the city will await the court’s decision on the matter.
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