Pretoria – A police warrant officer has been arrested at Kabokweni, Mpumalanga, on allegations of being in possession of suspected stolen roofing timber.
Mpumalanga police spokesperson, Brigadier Selvy Mohlala said a truck ferrying roofing timber had been hijacked on Friday.
“According to the report, members received information from the public about roofing timber planks that were stolen during an incident in which a truck, carrying roofing timber planks, was hijacked on 6 May 2022 at Phola Park, in Kabokweni,” Mohlala said.
“At about 4pm the details were followed by the astute members which led them to a certain house belonging to a police officer. The alleged building materials were then found and police believed that they were stolen during the said hijacking incident.”
Mohlala said a Warrant Officer Elvis Oswald Chirwa, 49, was arrested and charged for possession of suspected stolen property.
Chirwa appeared before the Kabokweni Magistrate’s Court on Monday, and the case against him was postponed to Friday for a formal bail application. The accused police officer was remanded in custody.
Meanwhile, provincial commissioner of police in Mpumalanga, Lieutenant-General Semakaleng Daphney Manamela has warned police officers in the province to shun criminal activities, adding that “drastic steps will be taken against them without any hesitation” if they are found on the wrong side of the law.
In February, a former police officer with three other suspects were arrested for allegedly robbing a shop at Ilanga Mall in Nelspruit.
At the time, police in Mpumalanga said one of the four suspects they had nabbed for the robbery, was a former sergeant who was attached to the crime intelligence division in the province.
IOL