Cop loses her gun and ammo to crooks ahead of planned graveyard visit with brothers

Two police officers were attacked at the weekend.

An officer in the Free State had her official firearm and ammunition taken from her.

The other was a cop robbed of a police van in the Eastern Cape.

Two men are being sought for holding up the female officer at her residence in Thabong on Sunday morning.

The 40-year-old female police sergeant was at her residence with her two brothers preparing to visit the cemetery at about 6.30am, said spokesperson Capt Stephen Thakeng.

“Her brothers were waiting in the vehicle. When she opened the door, she saw two unknown armed males with masks. The suspects forced her back inside, threatening to harm her children if she did not give them her police firearm.”

She handed over the firearm loaded with 15 live rounds of ammunition and the suspects fled the scene.

“After they left her home, she realised they also took her handbag, which contained a police pocket book, smart card identity document, driver’s licence, Capitec bank card and an undisclosed amount of cash.”

On Saturday in the Eastern Cape, two men tried to make off with a marked police van.

The vehicle was recovered and the manhunt is on, said Brig Tembinkosi Kinana.

The attempted cheeky getaway came after they held up a police officer in the early hours of Saturday in the Engcobo area.

“The police officer had attended a complaint of a person who had been raped. As he was driving back from the medical institution where he had taken the victim, he was accosted by unidentified suspects. At gunpoint, the two suspects pulled him out and drove off in the police vehicle.”

The officer called for assistance and the police vehicle was later found abandoned in a nearby forest known as Sigidi.

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