TWO Pongola police officers appeared in court yesterday on charges of robbery and kidnapping.
The accused names have been withheld as they have not pleaded, but they were remanded into custody until Friday.
The officers were allegedly involved in the robbery of a shop during which the victims were bound with cable ties and dumped in a sugarcane field.
It is alleged that on 7 December the victims were accosted by a group of men while they were performing guard duties at a shop.
They were forced into a taxi, bound with cable ties and dumped in a nearby sugarcane field before the suspects returned to the shop.
The suspects allegedly tried to break the shop’s safe but failed. Cigarettes and five radios were stolen before they fled the scene.
A case of business robbery was reported at the Pongola Police Station and on 14 December two suspects were arrested.
They appeared at the Pongola Magistrate’s Court the following day and were remanded into custody until 19 February.
Shortly after, it was discovered that two police officers were involved in the crime and detectives obtained warrants for their arrest.
More arrests are expected as the investigation progresses.
KZN MEC for Transport, Community Safety and Liaison, Willies Mchunu, expressed his concern over the arrest.
‘It is indeed of grave concern that police officers, the very people who are charged with maintaining law and order, are now involved in undermining the law. We are clear that on instances like these, the law should take its course without fear or favour.
‘Our message is clear. Let us work with those police officers who are law abiding and serving with integrity [and] let us expose and isolate those who are not trustworthy and corrupt,’ said Mchunu.
