Six officers from the SAPS Flying Squad are in the mang after they were busted by their colleagues for smokkeling perly.
Police spokesperson, Colonel Andre Traut, says the arrests follow their pursuit to root out corruption among Western Cape SAPS ranks.
He says following a lengthy and thorough investigation by the Provincial Anti-Corruption Unit over six months, the team arrived at the Maitland Flying Squad early on Tuesday morning and executed a warrant of arrest.
“Two sergeants and four constables, aged between 31 and 42, were detained on charges of corruption while awaiting their court appearance in Cape Town on 30 March.
“They are accused of corrupt activities where boxes of abalone were seized from suspects on a number of occasions without making any arrests or handing in the abalone as exhibits.
“They are also accused of harbouring a corrupt relationship with persons on the wrong side of the law by escorting drugs with a police vehicle.”
According to a Daily Voice source, the team were actually set up after the unit became wys that they were stealing perly from alleged smugglers and reselling it to others.
“What happened is that this mense were being watched after information surfaced about their doings.
“There is one female sergeant who is the ring leader and she sets everything in motion and sommer transports the stolen abalone in her cop car.
“The way they were caught is that they get tip-offs when shipments are coming in, then instead of intercepting and arresting the smugglers they basically rob the smugglers and resell it to other smugglers.
“This group was known for working on the N2, R300 and Wynberg.”
The source says the information was leaked to the Anti-Corruption Unit who set up a series of sting operations.
“They were being watched for almost a year. They are so arrogant and greedy they did not even realise.
“When the unit became wys of them, they set up fake shipments to be delivered and when the fake smugglers arrived based on the information deliberately given to them, they so wragtig intercepted and kept on stealing and had no idea the fake smugglers were actually police officers.
“When Task Force arrived at the base on Tuesday to skut them, they were completely taken by surprise.”
While a seventh officer was not arrested as he had not shown up for his shift, Traut warns this arrest is imminent.
“The investigation into the corrupt activities of the members is still under way, and as the matter unfolds, more charges could be brought against the members, who are now suspended from SAPS.
“The Western Cape provincial commissioner, Lieutenant-General Thembisile Patekile did not mince his words as he welcomed the arrests and warned “corrupt members masquerading as police officers will be brought to book”.