Pretoria – A man was arrested by the Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) after being found in possession of stolen official licensing documents.
JMPD spokesperson Xolani Fihla said the man, driving a white Mercedes-Benz was bust in the Joburg CBD.
“Officers were conducting crime prevention patrols at M2 and the Selby off-ramp in the Johannesburg CBD when they spotted and stopped a white Mercedes-Benz vehicle with no front registration number plates displayed,” Fihla said.
“The officers searched the vehicle and recovered official licensing department documents also known as ‘face value’. When asked how he acquired the documents, the driver alluded that they belonged to his brother-in-law who is an e-hailing service driver.”
Fihla said the JMPD officers went to Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport to enquire how the official documents had ended up in the hands of the Mercedes-Benz driver.
“The officers were sent to the licensing department in Bedfordview as they (the documents) were supposedly in their storage at the Kempton Park logistics, only to find out that there was an internal investigation being conducted regarding the batch of documents recovered by the officers, with an estimated street value of approximately R1m,” according to the JMPD.
However, Fihla said the provincial roads and transport department had not opened a criminal case with the South African Police Service.
“The suspect was arrested and detained at Johannesburg Central SAPS where a case docket was opened for further investigation,” he said.
“The Road Traffic Management Corporation anti-corruption unit was also dispatched to investigate the matter.”
In December, two JMPD officers were arrested by the JMPD internal affairs unit for extortion, kidnapping and corruption, after they arrested a motorist for allegedly demanding money from a motorist they had accused of having a fake foreign driving licence.
Members from the JMPD internal affairs unit attended to the complaint.
“They traced the JMPD patrol vehicle and found that the two male officers, who are attached to the special patrol unit (SPU), had already released the member of the public in Mayfair after extorting R4 000 from him,” Fihla said.
A preliminary investigation was undertaken to verify the damning allegations.
“Upon interviewing the two officers, it was established that there was misconduct committed by the duo. Members of the internal affairs unit searched the officers and their vehicle, and an amount of R14 000 was retrieved, including over 300 foreign driving licences and two South African licences. This substantiated the officers’ modus operandi,” Fihla said.
The complainant was called to the JMPD internal affairs office, and he positively identified the two officers who took money from him.
IOL