The Provincial Anti-Corruption Unit arrested these Tactical Response Team (TRT) members based in Welkom, in the Free State, on Tuesday morning on allegations of being involved in a business robbery, defeating the ends of justice, as well as perjury.

It is alleged that on 20 June, TRT members from Welkom had an operation at a supermarket in Station Street, Kroonstad, where they arrested the owner and his wife for contravening the Disaster Management Act by selling cigarettes during the lockdown period, says police spokesperson Motantsi Makhele. 

A large amount of money and cigarettes were confiscated. According to Makhele, the TRT members found an unknown male outside the shop smoking. As the police confronted him he told them that he purchased the cigarettes inside from the owner. Members went inside the shop where they arrested the owner and his wife. The two were later released and money and cigarettes were handed back to them. 

It later emerged that the amount handed back to them was not the same as the one taken. An intensive investigation was conducted and it was discovered that the money handed in at the police station during the arrest of the shop owners was not the same as what was initially confiscated, says Makhele. It was also discovered that the alleged unknown male was known to the TRT members as he is related to one of the members. The suspects will appear in the Kroonstad Magistrate's Court this Friday.

OFM News/Blaine Jones