Durban - Police are tight-lipped about a burglary at the Chatsworth police station, where thieves made off with an undisclosed amount of cash that was kept in an office.
The theft took place in an office block in the new state-of-the art complex on Wednesday, and yesterday a task team was established to investigate the incident.
Police spokesman, Colonel Jay Naicker, said the amount stolen could not be disclosed because investigations were under way.
A source said that police arrived for work in the morning and found the door to the finance section open and the office ransacked. It is unclear if the money was kept in a safe or drawer. Police are unsure what time the theft took place.
DA MP Dianne Kohler Barnard, the party’s spokeswoman on policing matters, said the incident had left many unanswered questions.
“How does a thief get into the inner workings of a SAPS station? How does a thief get into a door that should have been locked?
“How does a thief know where the finance office is and where the money was?”
Kohler Barnard said if someone was so careless as to leave money in a drawer, they should be charged. If it was removed from the safe, then someone gave the perpetrator the key or code.
“The more I look at this story, the more I am leaning towards believing that this is an inside job,” she said.
“It is hugely shameful that a SAPS station should be burgled – and for this multimillion-rand state-of-the-art station to be robbed so soon after the official launch, is doubly so.”
Logan Chetty, the Chatsworth community police forum chairman, said he could not comment because he did not know what happened. Chetty said the matter was under investigation.
Kohler Barnard on the other hand said a person could walk freely through the police station gates at any time of night or day, and with an accomplice to secure the attention of the officer on duty, it would be simple to slip up the stairs.
“The station commander will be held accountable for this I have no doubt, so the pressure is on for him to arrest the perpetrator, and quickly.”
Naicker said police were confident of an imminent breakthrough.
“A departmental investigation (in respect of) the loss of the monies is also running concurrently.”
Daily News