Metro cops held for bribery

06 January 2015 - 21:27 By Sapa
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Image: Gallo

Two Tshwane metro police officers who allegedly solicited a bribe from Crime Line head Yusuf Abramjee were arrested on Tuesday, said the Tshwane metro police department.

Abramjee alerted authorities on Monday that the two had stopped him for speeding and requested a bribe for him to avoid getting a speeding ticket, said Senior Superintendent Isaac Mahamba.

He refused to pay up and the officers let him go.

"Today we did a follow-up and arranged an entrapment for the two officers and it worked," said Mahamba.

He explained that the two officers were in charge of operating a speeding camera in Centurion. They were not supposed to stop speeding motorists but were meant to take the film containing all the speeding motorists back to their office where speeding infringement notices would be drawn up and sent to the speedsters.

"What they did instead was to... stop motorists and tell them that in order to remove from them from the film, they needed to pay a bribe," said Mahamba.

The two officers stopped the speeding investigator who was tasked to carry out the trap.

They demanded a R200 bribe from him.

They were immediately arrested and charged with corruption and bribery, Mahamba said.

The pair were found with crumpled notes in their pockets.

"One was found with R1200 and other had R710," said Mahamba.

"They could not account for the money," he said. It was suspected that this was money they had received as bribes from speedsters they had stopped.

The two were currently being held at the Wierdabrug police station and were expected to appear in the Centurion Magistrate's Court soon where they were to apply for bail.

Mahamba indicated that the officers would be served with notices for suspension.

They would have seven days to reply. Thereafter the department would decide on whether or not to suspend them.

"As the City of Tshwane and Tshwane metro police, we are zero tolerant on corruption," said Mahamba.

He said they would not hesitate on booting out corrupt officials.

"Many officers are doing their best and we know there are a few who are corrupt," he said.

He commended Abramjee for coming forward and urged other motorists to report officers who requested bribes from them.

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