Gone bananas: SAPS officer arrested over alleged supermarket shoplifting
A SAPS officer was arrested in the Barberton policing area in Mpumalanga following an alleged shoplifting incident at a supermarket.
Image: File/ Independent Newspapers
A South African Police Service (SAPS) officer was arrested on allegations of shoplifting following an incident at a supermarket in the Barberton policing area in Mpumalanga.
According to the SAPS in Mpumalanga, the 59-year-old officer was arrested after an incident that occurred on Saturday, 31 January, at about 6.30 pm.
“It is reported that a security officer who was on duty at the main entrance of the supermarket received information from the store’s control room, indicating that a male customer had allegedly added extra bananas into a plastic bag after the item had already been weighed and priced at the pay point,” said provincial police spokesperson, Captain Mpho Nonyane-Mpe.
She said the customer was approached and questioned, after which the bananas were re-weighed and found to exceed the original weight reflected on the price label.
“The value of the difference amounted to R43.80,” police said.
The police officer was detained, and the matter was reported to the police, with a case of shoplifting opened. Police said an investigation was ongoing and that internal SAPS processes would also be instituted.
The arrested police officer was scheduled to appear before the Barberton Magistrate's Court in Mpumalanga.
Meanwhile, the acting provincial commissioner of police in Mpumalanga, Major General Zeph Mkhwanazi, has condemned the incident and reiterated that such misconduct could not be tolerated, saying it dented the image of the police and that the law would take its course without fear or favour.
jonisayi.maromo@iol.co.za
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