Police turn down R2m bribe

ettubrute

ettubrute

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They would have been instant millionaires. And best of all, half of it was cash upfront - no questions asked, just walk away.

Only one problem: the alleged drug dealer who offered the cash picked the wrong cops, and he is now paying the price, sitting in a Port Elizabeth jail waiting for his first court appearance, tomorrow. He is facing charges of dealing in drugs, illegal possession of a firearm and bribery.

The 54-year-old's arrest on Tuesday night came after months of surveillance by members of the Hawks unit.

"They were basically sitting in the bush 24/7 watching his warehouse waiting to catch him in the act," said police spokeswoman Brigadier Marinda Mills.

Their moment came just after 10pm on Tuesday when the Hawks raided the warehouse, situated in Redhouse, Port Elizabeth, and caught the man with a bag of mandrax tablets in his hands. Shortly after his arrest, said Mills, the man offered to pay two Hawks members R1 million each.

He asked them to take him to his home, where he said the money was. At his home he handed the two warrant officers R800 000 in cash.

What they had in their hands, said Mills, was about five times their annual salary. But the two officers did not take the bait. They simply added a charge of bribery to his charge sheet.

Once they had finished counting yesterday morning, police had found close to 150 000 mandrax tablets.

Police also confiscated three vehicles: a BMW, a Mercedes-Benz and a VW Passat. They also found a 9mm pistol and 14 rounds of ammunition.
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Good for these guys! They should be rewarded!
 
No doubt, there are still some good hard working dedicated guys out there.
 
I do wonder though what happens to the R800k? They should both at least get a bonus of some sort from that. What normally happens to confiscated cash? (besides being stolen from the evidence room...)
 
Budza said:
I do wonder though what happens to the R800k? They should both at least get a bonus of some sort from that. What normally happens to confiscated cash? (besides being stolen from the evidence room...)
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It's supposed to go to the Reserve Bank. But you are correct that in most cases it vanishes into thin air...Cops will always get their bribe one way or the other:D
 
I think that they should take the drug dealers personal wealth and pay an extra cop or 3 to police the streets.
 
Their consolation prize could be a R1000 Pick N Pay voucher from 702 if they're lucky...:D

Great work on their part - awesome story to read. We need more news like this and more cops like them...
 
I would've taken the cash and arrested the guy anyway. Even if he complains about having the money stolen by the cops, no-one would believe him because... he's a drug dealer!
 
/sceptic
Well this sounds like a big enough "bust" that the entire division probably knew about the investigation, what exactly would the 2 cops have done if they took the bribe? Went back to the station and said "uh sorry, we lost the guy? " . OF course if this was a random bust, [which this clearly was not] , then i'd think the opportunity to accept bribes are there, not so sure about this one . There were probably too many cops involved that sharing it with the entire station was not enough considering the risk ;)
/sceptic off
 
The_Assimilator said:
I would've taken the cash and arrested the guy anyway. Even if he complains about having the money stolen by the cops, no-one would believe him because... he's a drug dealer!
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If the suspect mentions it, there will be a team watching your every move for years.

It's extremely hard for criminals/corrupt cops, not to spend some of the money from crimes. Even harder not to change life patterns significantly in order to avoid suspicion. The claims of an inheritance, then a lotto win, then a horserace win, are checkable, thus the show of money will be the downfall, always. Clothing and accessories change. The character also changes to more confident. If it becomes a regular thing, it becomes almost impossible to hide the tells.

diabolus said:
/sceptic
Well this sounds like a big enough "bust" that the entire division probably knew about the investigation, what exactly would the 2 cops have done if they took the bribe? Went back to the station and said "uh sorry, we lost the guy? " . OF course if this was a random bust, [which this clearly was not] , then i'd think the opportunity to accept bribes are there, not so sure about this one . There were probably too many cops involved that sharing it with the entire station was not enough considering the risk ;)
/sceptic off
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I'm sure there are entire stations that are corrupt. :p
 
"Surveillance of the warehouse" means video and electronic recording equipment trained on the warehouse.
I'm not saying they're not stand up guys... but I wouldn't accept a bribe in front of cameras either.

The HAWKS are also in the media spotlight 24/7.... if one of them clears their throat without putting their hand in front of their mouths, journalists are ready to take em down.
 
How about we take this for what it is - awesome story. Drug dealers busted; cops turning down a massive bribe; evidence that at least one polocing unit is properly functional. I don't understand the need for unfounded scepticism at all in this story. The more we as the public applaud these types of actions, the more likely we are to see more of it. The opposite is true too...;)
 
Possibly they are already on another syndicates payroll... and will be passing on the evidence to them for a bigger paycheck
 
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