Two police officers from the Free State and a civilian are expected to appear in the Welkom Magistrate’s Court soon on corruption charges.
The 35-year-old Constable, 47-year-old Warrant Officer, and 33-year-old woman were arrested by members of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) and members of the South African Police Services’ (SAPS) Anti-Corruption Unit.
The acting national spokesperson for Ipid, Robbie Raburabu said the arrest follows an incident on December 23.
“The allegations are that a 33-year-old woman pitched up at the police station on December 23 at 3am to open a rape case against her boyfriend.
“It is further alleged that the police members, instead of opening the case, agreed with the woman to have her boyfriend pay R5,000 since they convinced the woman not to open a case against him,” Raburabu said.
He said it was then made clear to the boyfriend that should he fail to pay the requested money, a rape case will be registered against him.
“The boyfriend agreed to pay the money. He [boyfriend] then reported the matter to Ipid who in collaboration with the SAPS’ Anti-Corruption Unit set up an entrapment,” Raburabu said.
He said a preliminary investigation by the team uncovered the woman had no intention of filing charges against her boyfriend, but instead, she intended to extort money from him.
“She conspired with the police to extort money from her boyfriend. A team comprising of Ipid and SAPS members arrested all three suspects on December 23, 2023, in the afternoon and detained them at the Welkom police station,” Raburabu said.
The trio are expected to appear in the Welkom Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday, December 27.
robin.francke@inl.co.za
IOL