THREE rogue police officers were arrested yesterday by the Redhill community. This after the three men allegedly harassed and kidnapped a shebeen owner on Old North Coast Road in Redhil. The men are believed to members of the former Railway Police Station.

According to a statement from National Police, the suspects would turn a blind eye to, what is believed to be an unlicensed establishment and then regularly payed the owner a visit where they would demand a fee for allowing him to sell liquor illegally. 

‘They would demand money and forcefully take it if the owner does not give it to them,’ the statement read. 

What’s more it was said that the shebeen owner was kidnapped near uMgeni Road on Tuesday, 8 September. They forced him to phone his wife and instruct her to bring them their fee. Only after they complied was the victim released.

When the men returned to the shebeen the next day they were allegedly met by members of the community who apprehended them and alerted the Greenwood Park SAPS.

The suspects, aged between 31 and 38, were arrested and taken to Greenwood Park police. There they were stripped of their police-issued firearms and charged with kidnapping, robbery and corruption.

They are set to appear in Durban Magistrates’ Court on Monday.

KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner, Lieutenant General Mmamonnye Ngobeni condemned the police action, saying: “I commend the community members who handed them over to police and by not taking law into their own hands. I will make sure that these suspects face the consequences for their actions and an internal investigation will also be conducted against them.”

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