The Provincial Anti-Corruption unit arrested eight Tactical Response Team members based in Welkom this morning on allegation of being involved in a business robbery, defeating the ends of justice as well as perjury. They will appear in Kroonstad Magistrate court on Friday 25 September 2020.
It is alleged that on the 20 June 2020, TRT members from Welkom had an operation at a supermarket in Station Street, Kroonstad, where they arrested the owner and his wife for contravention of Disaster Management Act, for selling cigarettes during lockdown period. A large amount of money and cigarettes were confiscated.
According to statements submitted by members, they found an “unknown male” outside the shop smoking. They confronted him and he told them that he bought the cigarettes inside from the owner. Members went inside the shop where they arrested the owner and his wife. The two were later released and money and cigarettes handed back to them. It is when it emerged that the amount handed back to them is not the same as the one taken.
Intensive investigation was conducted and it was discovered that the money handed in at the police station during the arrest of the shop owners is not the same as the one initially confiscated. It was also discovered that the alleged “unknown male” was known to the TRT members as he is related to one of the members. The male person Thapelo Aldridge Mokoena was arrested and had already appeared in court.
A call is made to other people who may have been victims to similar incidents to contact Sergeant Tebogo Seekoei at 060 981 1458 or call Crime Stop at 08600 10111.
