Our hero this week is the SAPS for clamping down on more suspected corruption at police stations in the Western Cape.
This time they have arrested a group of officers who are accused of selling confiscated drugs, stealing evidence and accepting bribes – and there’s possibly more to come.
The suspects all worked at the Parow police station. They were arrested by the newly established police provincial anti-corruption unit, which took nine constables, a sergeant and a former employee of the station into custody.
Yesterday they appeared in the Bellville District Court, where they were charged with eight counts of corruption and released on bail of R5 000 each.
The accused will be back in court in January. Magistrate Sabrina Sonnenberg, who recently convicted an officer from the Grassy Park police station of accepting bribes related to drug use, will hear their case.
Cape Town’s MEC for community safety, Dan Plaro, predicted that this was just the beginning, and that the arrests could lead to a widespread problem of corruption in the provincial police department.
“I think this is only the tip of the iceberg," he told the Weekend Argus. "I don’t think Parow is the only police station."
