Johannesburg - A Bruma businessman claims police planted drugs in his office and stole more than R500 000 during his arrest last Wednesday.
Mohammed Sabir Hussain, who owns a shop at Oriental City in Bruma, was at home when he received a phone call from his family to come to his office immediately.
Hussain said when he arrived, he found police officers who said they wanted to be let in.
The businessman said he asked them for a search warrant, but instead they produced a crowbar and smashed the door to get in.
He said there were eight men at his office – four uniformed police officers, one in plainclothes, one man who said he worked for the National Intelligence Agency and two who he believed were police informers.
Hussain said his office was turned inside out and one of the plainclothes men found money in a drawer of his desk he allegedly removed and put in his pocket.
“I said they were robbing me and should put the money in a sealed police bag, and they slapped me for saying that,” Hussain said.
He said the men destroyed the CCTV system in his office.
Hussain said he saw one of the men take a packet out of his pocket and put it under his money-counting machine.
The police officer then allegedly said he had found something.
The businessman said it was drugs that had been planted in order for charges to be brought against him.
“Why would I keep something under the money-counting machine? It needs to be on a flat surface to work properly.”
Hussain also said the police claimed to have found a bag of drugs in his uncle’s shoes.
“But the bags were so big, they wouldn’t even fit in the shoe,” he said.
Hussain said he was told the packets contained the drug cat.
He said the police then asked to search his house, and his car was followed by two flying squad cars and a 4x4 without number plates.
He was then taken to Cleveland police station.
Hussain’s attorney, Eric Bryer, said his client had been held overnight at the police station and 24 hours after his arrest he had still not been charged.
Police spokeswoman Constable Mpho Mashakane said Hussain had been charged with dealing and possession of drugs as well as the negligent handling of firearms.
“The firearms were found lying on the table, instead of in a safe,” Mashakane said.
Provincial spokesman Captain Tsekiso Mofokeng said police would respond to the allegations made against them on Friday, but by on Sunday they had failed to do so.
The Star