Cape Town cops arrested over confiscated alcohol ‘not booked in as evidence’

Four Cape Town police officers are facing criminal charges in connection with crates of alcohol they confiscated from a suspect, but which they apparently did not book in as exhibits afterwards.

They were arrested at the Mfuleni police station in Cape Town on Thursday, 27 June 2024.

In response to Daily Maverick questions about the incident, Western Cape police spokesperson Captain Frederick van Wyk confirmed on Thursday that officers had been detained.

Crates of alcohol

He explained that the arrests were related to an incident that happened on 31 May this year.

“[The officers] visited the complainant’s address in Sofia Town, Blue Downs, where they arrested a suspect for selling alcohol without a valid license,” Van Wyk said.

At that premises, they seized five crates of alcohol — the exact type of liquor the crates contained was not immediately clear.

“On the way to [the] Mfuleni police station it is alleged that they stopped and told the suspect that she is free to go,” Van Wyk said.

The owner of the premises, that the officers had earlier been to, then went to the police station and asked about the confiscated alcohol.

‘Not booked in’

“It was then discovered that the alcohol was not booked in as exhibits,” Van Wyk said.

He added: “The matter was reported to the Western Cape Anti-Corruption Investigating Unit and the case was presented to the Director of Public Prosecution, who decided to charge the members [with] theft and defeating the administration of justice.”

The four police officers arrested at the Mfuleni police station on Thursday were expected to have appeared in the Blue Downs Magistrate’s Court on the same day.

Earlier in the week another cop was detained in a separate corruption incident.

Cash for clearance certificate

On Monday, 24 June, an officer linked to police in the West Coast town of Vredenburg was arrested.

Van Wyk said the 38-year-old constable had reportedly “requested payment of R85,00 to assist a member of the public who wanted to apply for a clearance certificate.”

The clearance certificate was presumably a reference to a document which shows whether someone has a criminal record.

In reaction to Monday’s arrest, Western Cape police commissioner Lieutenant General Thembisile Patekile warned that corruption among cops would not be tolerated.

Missing cop gun

Earlier this week Daily Maverick also reported on another incident that reflected poorly on police in Cape Town.

That related to an officer’s firearm that apparently went missing.

In that incident on 20 June, a member of the Public Order Police gave a colleague a lift home following the memorial service of another officer, Akhona Ndzingo, in Khayelitsha.

About a week earlier, Ndzingo had been killed in a shooting there.

It is understood that after Ndzingo’s 20 June memorial, the police officer who gave his colleague a lift home had stayed at that colleague’s house for a while socialising.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Policeman’s firearm ‘stolen’ after attending Khayelitsha memorial for murdered cop

While driving to his own home after that, the police officer checked for his firearm, under the driver seat of his vehicle, where he had left it.

But it was not there.

A case of theft was subsequently registered at the Khayelitsha police station.

Fired

Last week Daily Maverick reported on another police firearm scandal.

Five officers, linked to the Mitchells Plain police station and 15 firearms which could not be accounted for, were fired.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Five cops fired in ongoing Mitchells Plain ‘missing police guns’ scandal

In another incident about seven years ago, 15 handguns went missing from the Mitchells Plain station’s community service centre, and a group of officers had faced action including suspensions and dismissals.

They were all later cleared of wrongdoing. DM