A police constable is one of three people who are facing charges of business robbery, unlawful possession of a firearm and possession of suspected stolen property in Delft.
The arrest follows as Delft police received a complaint of a business robbery which occurred at a Somalian Shop in N2 Gateway on Wednesday 27 September.
The responding officers received a description of a vehicle which had been involved in the robbery as a blue VW Golf with a particular registration number.
According to provincial police spokesperson Captain FC van Wyk the Delft Police Crime Prevention Unit spotted a vehicle which matched the description in the Leiden area.
“They immediately gave chase and managed to corner the vehicle with its two occupants in Caledon Street in Leiden,” Van Wyk says.
The two occupants were taken out of the vehicle and searched. Police found two 9mm pistols with two magazines and 30 rounds of ammunition in their possession. They also recovered two cartons of cigarettes.
Van Wyk says it was then discovered that the one passenger was a 24-year-old policeman stationed at Guguletu Police Station, but working for the Nyanga Cluster Stabilisation Unit.
“When questioned, the police constable confirmed that he went to book out the firearms with his 18-year-old civilian friend (driver of the vehicle) at Nyanga Police Station. He later informed the police that he also booked out an R5 rifle and asked another of his civilian friends to keep it for him,” Van Wyk.
He says officers followed up on the information and recovered the R5 firearm with 20 rounds of ammunition and a magazine hidden between a base and a mattress at the address given by the suspect.
“They then arrested the friend who had kept the rifle and charged him with for unlawful possession of a firearm,” Van Wyk says.
The men, aged between 18 and 26 all face charges of business robbery, unlawful possession of a firearm and possession of suspected stolen property.
They are expected to appear at the Bellville Magistrates’ Court on Friday 29 September.
Van Wyk says the arrest of a police officer for the commission of a crime sends shockwaves through the rank and file of the police, but it also indicates that criminals will never find a safe haven in the police.
