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IPID arrested three specialist Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department (EMPD) officers for allegedly kidnapping and bribing a supermarket employee.
- Three Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department officers have been arrested on charges of kidnapping, theft, extortion and defeating the ends of justice.
- The officers allegedly demanded money for the release of an employee at a supermarket they had raided.
- Boxes of cigarettes worth R25 000 were seized during the operation.
Three specialist Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department (EMPD) officers who allegedly kidnapped a supermarket employee and demanded a bribe for his release, have been charged with kidnapping, theft, extortion and defeating the ends of justice.
It is alleged that the officers released the man after he paid them and then lied in their statements.
The Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) arrested the Boksburg truck hijackings specialised unit officers on Friday.
IPID spokesperson Lizzy Suping said the three officers conducted a search operation at Smokes and Kings Supermarket in Rynfield, Benoni, in July last year and that boxes of cigarettes worth R25 000 were seized.
"While confiscating the cigarettes, they allegedly disconnected the surveillance camera inside the shop," Suping said.
She added that the cigarettes were loaded onto an EMPD van and the supermarket employee was put in a separate official vehicle.
Suping added:
The officers then drove to Northmead with the supermarket employee under the pretext that he was [under arrest].
It is alleged that they then demanded money and a cellphone for his release.
The man handed over R200 notes he had in his possession, Suping said, and was then dropped off in Northmead, near to the freeway.
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The officers allegedly booked two boxes of cigarettes in at the Benoni police station.
Their warning statements indicated that the goods were found at the property of an unknown owner and that a suspect ran away when he saw them.
"The officers also failed to open a case as they alleged," Suping said.
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