Police nabbed for diesel theft‚ hijacking

Handcuffs. File Photo.
Image by: SUHAIB SALEM / REUTERS
Three policemen have been arrested in connection with multiple truck hijackings and diesel theft dating back to February.

The policemen‚ who are based at the Brighton Beach police station in Durban‚ are expected to appear in court soon.

SAPS spokesman Major Thulani Zwane said they were arrested on Wednesday morning after an investigation into a truck hijacking in Rossburgh‚ in the south of Durban. The driver of the truck was attacked by three men‚ stuffed into the boot of a car and dumped about 40km away in Umbumbulu.

"The following day‚ the Durban Flying Squad recovered the truck in Jacobs Road. A security guard who was guarding [the truck] drew a firearm and tried to shoot at police. He was arrested and his unlicensed firearm was seized‚" said Zwane.

Follow-up investigations revealed that this was not the only diesel theft and truck hijacking the gang had committed‚ and that SAPS officers were allegedly among those involved.

"The arrested police officers have been linked to the hijacking‚ theft of diesel and also other truck hijacking incidents that occurred in February 2016‚" said Zwane.

Provincial police have vowed to make more arrests‚ even if it meant more of their own.

"We will not tolerate corrupt police officers in the SAPS. Let this be a warning to others in the service that collude with criminals that your days are numbered ‚" said KZN commissioner Lieutenant General Mmamonnye Ngobeni.

A police constable was arrested on Tuesday night after he and five accomplices posing as policemen allegedly robbed a cash-in-transit vehicle in Kraaifontein‚ Cape Town.

The suspects‚ some wearing SAPS uniforms‚ pulled off the heist in a marked police vehicle.

– TMG Digital/Sunday Times