A home affairs official was arrested after she tried to extort money from a foreign Premier League soccer player who was applying for a work permit.
The 36-year-old was arrested in a sting operation set up by the Department of Home Affairs and the police at her workplace in Springs on the East Rand yesterday.
After her arrest the woman led police to her house where they arrested a 38-year-old man. Both have been charged with fraud.
Springs police spokeswoman Amanda Greybe would not reveal what was found at the official's house yesterday but said: "It looked like home affairs itself at the house".
The Cameroonian soccer player had initially made an application for a work permit at the Anderson Street office in Joburg. Here he was given a form to fill in.
"When he struggled to fill in the form, a friend introduced him to a man in Yeoville who said he was an 'immigration agent'. He demanded R3 500 to help him get his papers within 15 days and took his passport," Greybe said.
"Throughout the 15 days the agent called with all sorts of excuses and demanded more money and arrangements were made for the man to pay him R4 500. His (the agent's) phone was constantly off after receiving the money."
Greybe said the Cameroonian then met someone else who was experiencing the same problem with the same "agent" and together they hunted him down.
When they found him, the "agent" said he was working with a woman in Springs and gave them her number.
The Cameroonians lodged a case at the Yeoville police station and the man was arrested on Monday.
The police and the two men then set the trap for the woman.
A phone call was made and they were told it would cost "R5 000 to process their papers".
"All she wanted was money and more money. I tried to get her to give back my passport and forget about the whole thing but she refused and demanded cash," the 21-year-old aspiring Cameroonian soccer player said.
Yesterday the soccer player paid the woman the money, gave the police officers a missed call and they pounced, catching the woman with the money in hand.
Home Affairs spokeswoman Cleo Mosana said: "We're committed to rooting out corruption in the department.
"We urge the public to report corrupt officials so that we could arrest more officials."
Police said they expected to make more arrests.
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