Six Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department officers were arrested for allegedly extorting money from a Congolese national. Photo: Screenshot. File photo: Adrian de Kock/ Independent Newspapers
Image: Adrian de Kock
Six officers from the Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department's drug unit have been released on R3,000 bail each after allegedly engaging in extortion against a Congolese national in Boksburg, Gauteng.
They were released on Monday by the Boksburg Magistrates Court.
Falaza Shirinda, 34, Lesiba Thaba, 39, Siyabonga Yika, 32, Cecilia Ngubeni, 32, Kevin Seisa, 31, and Rofhiwa Neloheni, 34, were arrested on March 5, 2025, at their Kempton Park offices, with accusations of robbery and defeating the ends of justice.
According to Lizzy Suping, spokesperson for the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid), the event unfolded on March 5, 2024, when the victim was reportedly stopped by the officers for an alleged traffic violation.
They requested his identification documents to verify his residency status in South Africa. After this verification at the Home Affairs office in Boksburg, the situation escalated.
Suping said that the officers drove the victim to his home, located in one of Boksburg's estates.
"They searched the house without a search warrant and confiscated an amount of money found in the premises," she said.
The matter was postponed to March 25.
In a similar case, seven police officers have been arrested after allegedly extorting money from two shops owned by Chinese nationals in Milnerton, Cape Town, in the Western Cape.
“It is alleged that the members, accompanied by a suspect in civilian clothes, took an undisclosed amount of cash from the two shops, allegedly as protection money.
“The incident was reported to police and members of the Anti-Corruption Unit and Provincial Serious and Violent Crime Unit detectives acted swiftly and apprehended the suspects last night in Milnerton while they were on duty. As the investigation unfolds, leads are pursued to identify more suspects who could also be arrested,” said police spokesperson, Colonel Andrè Traut.
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