Two bogus police officers arrested on Friday have been linked to a gang that follows travellers home from OR Tambo International Airport and robs them, police said.
Captain Jethro Mtshali said crime-prevention officers on patrol in Kempton Park arrested two men aged 19 and 21 at about 2am, near Kemstar Mall.
The two, wearing police-issue bullet-proof vests and armed with toy guns, were running to an unmarked black Volkswagen Golf.
”The two told the police that they were police. One of them was wearing a police bullet-proof while the other one had a toy gun,” Mtshali said.
They told the police they were ”busy investigating a domestic violence case”.
This raised the real officers’ suspicion and they asked the men to produce their identification, which they failed to do. They were then arrested.
The two men are due to appear in the Kempton Park Magistrate’s Court on Monday, facing charges for impersonating a police officer.
Mtshali said police are investigating the possibility that the two might be part of a gang that robs and hijacks people on the R21 freeway after following them from OR Tambo International Airport.
He said in most incidents the victims reported that they were robbed by two men in a black Golf, wearing police-issue reflective vests. — Sapa