Cape Town - Two Mitchells Plain detectives have been caught selling a docket for R40 000 and were arrested by the Hawks.
Detectives swooped after the transaction took place in a parking area in Morgenster Road, Mitchells Plain, and found R40 000 on the men on Monday afternoon, police spokesman Frederick van Wyk said.
The detectives, from the Directorate of Priority Crime Investigations, or Hawks, in the Western Cape, had been probing allegations of corruption in the police.
The two local detectives, aged 30 and 42, are to appear in the Mitchells Plain Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday.
A third Cape Town police officer was sentenced on Tuesday to eight years in jail for corruption.
Sergeant Cornelius Cameron Wessels had been caught in an undercover operation in November 2012 by police, who suspected that some officers were involved in drug peddling.
In the sting, an undercover officer was “arrested” for drug possession and detained at the Cape Town Central Police Station at which Wessels was stationed, National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesman Eric Ntabazalila said.
“One of the undercover police officers was handed a R100 note, with a serial number known to the police, and a white container, containing food and four sealed bags of dagga, concealed under food.
“The undercover police officer was instructed to go to Cape Town Police Station and to ask to meet Sergeant Wessels. He was told to ask Sergeant Wessels to hand over the container to the undercover agent who had been arrested for dagga possession, and then to pay Wessels.”
Wessels had given the container to the undercover officer who was in custody, despite knowing it contained drugs, Ntabazalila said.
He received the payment of R100. The note was in his possession when he was arrested.
Wessels was tried and convicted by the Bellville Specialised Commercial Crime Court.
The NPA welcomed the sentence, Ntabazalila said.
“Corruption by officers poses a fundamental threat to the government’s (crime-fighting) strategy. It undermines the government’s efforts to restore public confidence in the justice system.”
According to the police’s report for 2012/13, 892 officers across the country faced criminal charges. Of them, 319 were charged with corruption, 153 for fraud, 149 for defeating the ends of justice, 46 for extortion and 10 for bribery.
Cape Times