Cops held for businesswoman’s robbery

140413: Mmamonnye Ngobeni Mmamonnye Ngobeni is pleased about decreases but says police cannot win the war against crime working alone.

140413: Mmamonnye Ngobeni Mmamonnye Ngobeni is pleased about decreases but says police cannot win the war against crime working alone.

Published Oct 12, 2015

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Durban - Two police officers, one of them believed to be on bail on a hijacking charge, allegedly conspired with three others to rob a Canadian businesswoman.

Later they tried unsuccessfully to cover their tracks by filing a police complaint.

All five were arrested on Thursday night and were expected to appear in the Durban Magistrate’s Court on Monday.

The two policemen were said to be from the Sydenham SAPS. One is a warrant officer with 30 years’ experience. The other is a constable, with about 10 years’ service, who was recently moved to this police station after his release from Westville Prison on bail on a hijacking charge.

It is alleged that the Canadian businesswoman had been travelling on Chris Hani (North Coast) Road with two friends, one of them a woman, on Thursday night.

Knowing the businesswoman had money in the car, the woman was said to have regularly texted their location to the two policemen, travelling in the constable’s private vehicle.

The constable’s nephew was also in the car with the two.

According to a source, the policemen had stopped the car the businesswoman was travelling in and held them up at gunpoint.

The woman had fought back.

Private security company officials had witnessed the scuffle and alerted the police.

The trio then sped off in their car with the stolen money, including Canadian banknotes, and had apparently stopped in Tweed Road for the two policemen to get out.

The nephew was then involved in a chase on the N2 with officers from the public order policing unit.

After a tyre blow-out, the nephew apparently abandoned the car and fled into the bushes.

By this time the police had called in the Durban K9 unit as well as the Inanda Tactical Response Team to search for the nephew, who was later arrested.

While this was happening, the businesswoman’s “friends” had taken her to the Greenwood Park police station to open a case of robbery.

The two policemen had later also gone to the police station with their service pistols intact to report that they had been robbed.

The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, also known as the Hawks, was called to take over the investigation and the crime scene was cordoned off.

The two policemen’s commander, with the Hawks, led the arrest of the two men.

It is believed that the constable’s nephew was the link that led to the police officers’ arrest.

Police said the businesswoman was shocked to learn that her “friends” were allegedly also involved in the robbery.

Police spokesman, Major Thulani Zwane, reported that the money taken during the robbery had been recovered, as well as a state firearm suspected to have been used in the robbery, and a bulletproof vest.

KwaZulu-Natal provincial Commissioner, Lieutenant-General Mmamonnye Ngobeni, condemned the alleged involvement in crime of two police officers.

“We will strongly act against those members involved in any criminal activities and disciplinary steps will be taken against them. I congratulate our members who acted swiftly and managed to arrest the suspects a few minutes after the robbery,’ she said.

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