Cops say a video on social media claiming that extortionists have demanded a protection fee from the Delft police station is fake news.
A TikTok post by @yatifyx with the picture of Delft police station and captioned “Extortion Mafia demands protection fee from Delft Police Station-Cape Town” was viewed more than 23 000 times in 24 hours.
After learning of the video, police released a statement refuting the claim and called it fake news.
Spokesperson Brigadier Novela Potelwa said: “While the SAPS in the province acknowledges the prevalence of incidents of extortion in some communities of the Western Cape, police wish to caution social media users against spreading unverified information as it causes unnecessary panic.
She said SAPS won’t tolerate being extorted and police were instead hard at work clamping down on incidence of extortion and bringing perpetrators to book.
“Delft police station is fully operational and hard at work ensuring communities in the area are and feel safe.”
She made a plea to mense being extorted to pay protection fees to report such incidents to police, via the Western Cape SAPS toll free number 0800 31 4444.
It comes after four alleged four alleged extortionists were shot and killed during a shootout with police in Phoenix, Milnerton last Thursday.
Four others were wounded and are currently under police guard in hospital.
NPA spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said their case has been postponed in their absence to 9 September.
“They are charged with four counts of murder, five counts of attempted murder, possession of unlicensed firearms. Unlawful possession of ammunition.”