Railway cop accused of escorting illicit cigarettes

01 September 2016 - 10:25 By Dave Chambers

A railway policeman faces trial for providing a blue-light escort to a truck carrying 40,000 packs of illicit cigarettes from Johannesburg to Cape Town. The warrant officer‚ who was in uniform when he was arrested‚ will go on trial in Cape Town next week after Owen Keyser‚ of Gordon’s Bay‚ admitted paying him to escort a load of contraband Kingdom cigarettes Keyser‚ 55‚ was given a five-year suspended prison sentence on Wednesday in the Mitchells Plain Regional Court for contravening the Customs and Excise Act.In a plea bargain‚ he was also fined R50,000 for contravening the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act by paying the policeman.Advocate Kevin Rossouw‚ a tax specialist in the Western Cape office of the National Prosecuting Authority‚ said police in Beaufort West were intrigued in 2011 when they saw the warrant officer’s VW Golf escorting a bakkie. When the officer’s claim that he was involved in a police operation did not check out they pulled him over in Leeu Gamka.“The story told by (the officer) kept changing‚” said Rossouw. The officers searched both vehicles and found the cigarettes.Keyser also faces three years’ house arrest‚ he has to pay R434,000 — the duty he was attempting to avoid — into the criminal assets recovery account‚ and the cigarettes have been confiscated...

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