Bogus Hawks officers bust

Three people, aged between 33 and 51, have been arrested for impersonating members of the police’s elite Hawks unit, an official said yesterday.

“The suspects, one of whom has been posing as a major-general, were arrested by the Serious Corruption Investigating unit at a hideout in Midrand on Wednesday,” said Hawks spokesperson Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi.

“Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation [the Hawks] members recently received a complaint from a prominent businessman about a person pretending to be a Hawks major-general, soliciting money to have a case that he is allegedly implicated in disappear.”

Mulaudzi said an investigation was subsequently launched and it emerged immediately that there was no such major-general within the Hawks.

On Wednesday afternoon, the three suspects were lured into a police trap, and arrested. Various items were seized pending further investigations.

Hawks head Lieutenant-General Godfrey Lebeya described the arrests as a breakthrough in policing, adding that reports of Hawks officers impersonators had been muddying the image of the police.

“We have been receiving numerous complaints of scams by so-called Hawks members targeting high-profile people in government and private business, demanding cash to throw away cases,” he said.

The three will appear in the Midrand Magistrate’s Court today, facing charges of corruption and extortion. – ANA