Fifteen firearms and eight imitation weapons involved in criminal cases have been stolen from the Mitchells Plain police station.
In the latest incident that took place in November 2023, the firearms weapons were reported missing from the station’s SAP-13 storeroom.
The SAP-13 storeroom is where all exhibits and evidence used in criminal cases are being kept safe.However, it was discovered on 21 November that the weapons which were destined for forensic testing at the laboratory had vanished.
The crime is believed to have taken place over six months.
Independent Media can confirm that the 30-year-old Detective Constable Lubabalo Malongwe, who was stationed at the station was arrested for the crime.
Provincial police spokesperson Colonel Andre Traut said the officer was apprehended three days after the firearms were discovered missing.
Traut says: “The theft of 15 firearms and eight imitation firearms was discovered on 2023-11-21, which was stolen over a period of about six months.
“The suspect has since been dismissed from SAPS and he is due back in Mitchells Plain Magistrates court on 2 February to face the charges against him.”
The police’s Anti-Corruption unit is investigating the matter while the stolen firearms are yet to be recovered.
Community Safety MEC Reagan Allen expressed his concern following the theft of the weapons. He says: “I have written to SAPS’s Provincial Commissioner to obtain details into this incident. It’s vital that it be established where these alleged stolen firearms are and that they immediately be retrieved.
“Should it also be found that any of these firearms have been used to commit a crime, the one responsible for its loss and or sale should also be charged to this effect.”
The theft at the station comes almost seven years after several firearms were taken from the same station.
In 2017, fifteen firearms were also stolen which led to the suspension of then- station commander, Brigadier Cass Goolam, and five of his management team who were dismissed but reinstated a year later.
Abie Isaacs, chairperson of the Cape Flats Safety Forum and former Mitchells Plain Community Policing Forum chair said the firearms were stolen during a time when the gang war on the Cape Flats was at its deadliest.
He adds: “This is on the backdrop where we have urban terror gang war at its highest on the Cape flats. We demand answers from saps how come this was kept under the carpet.”
byron.lukas@inl.co.za