Cape Town – Nine suspects including seven taxi owners appeared in the Mossel Bay Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday for the contravention of the Road Traffic Act, Fraud, Corruption and the Contravention of the National Land Transportation Act (NTLA).
The suspects’ appearance came after a take-down operation by the various departments, including Saps specialised units, the Crime Intelligence (Oudtshoorn and Mossel Bay), Public Order Policing (POP) Southern Cape, Garden Route District Crime Combating Team and Provincial Commercial Crime Investigations, Department of Transport including the office of the Registrar in the Western Cape.
Police spokesperson Malcolm Pojie said: “Police’s concerted efforts to eradicate corruption within civil society yielded positive results during an integrated joint take-down operation involving various departments, including SAPS specialised units.”
He said: “Western Cape provincial detectives’ Commercial Crime Investigation in collaboration with Crime Intelligence and the Western Cape Department of Transport as a court-driven initiative, culminated in the arrest of the suspects.”
Pojie said the take-down operation was conducted from Monday till late Tuesday night.
“The arrests stem from covert operations done over a period of time based on allegations that the arrestees fraudulently obtained operating licences as well as roadworthy certificates from various testing stations without even physically attending a testing station – clearly a transgression of the National Land Transportation Act (NTLA). The arrests included taxi owners and two individuals from Mossel Bay,” he said.
“Armed with search and seizure warrants, the integrated team pounced on the identified suspects to execute the arrests. After the arrests police also seized six minibus taxis, a Nissan 1400 bakkie and a Toyota Stallion bakkie, all directly linked to the illicit transactions,” Pojie said.
Following their arrest the suspects, between the ages of 30 and 57 years old, all appeared in the Mossel Bay Magistrate's Court on Wednesday, according to the SAPS.
“The accused face seven charges related to, but not limited to the Contravention of the Road Traffic Act, fraud, corruption and Contravention of the National Land Transportation Act (NTLA). They were granted bail of R1 500 each and warned to reappear in the same court on January 27 pending further investigation,” Pojie said.
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