Police arrest five of their own for cash-in-transit heists

Police Minister Bheki Cele says the SAPS have arrested five police officers in relation to cash-in-transit heists.

Cele revealed this on Wednesday during a meeting with Parliament's police portfolio committee which was called to discuss the turnaround strategy of the Directorate of Priority Crime Investigation‚ commonly known as the Hawks‚ on high profile cases.

Cele told MPs that there was an increasing element of foreign nationals involved in cash-in-transit heists‚ who appeared to be supplying blasting materials used in the robberies.

"There's quite a foreign element on cash heists‚ especially the blasters seem to be coming from Botswana…element of Zimbabweans that are there‚" he said.

"There's an element of our own guys that are there‚ the police. We arrested in last 24 hours five police officers‚ who we'll work on this when we find it. I always say one painful thing it is to announce the arrest of a police officer‚ but it needs to be done if it needs to happen."

The police minister said criminals were so brazen that they went around boasting about "buying everybody".

"One guy was boasting to say‚ 'we don't have fiscus‚ we don't have budgeting‚ we don't have auditor-general‚ we just do these things.'

"They say they buy from the police to the correctional officers….it's not proven chairperson. They say they buy prosecutors‚ magistrates‚ judges. It's a question of crime (syndicates) running a parallel government."