‘Drunk’ cops extorted R3,500 from me during cigarette raid — shop owner

A foreign national who owns a spaza shop in Nompumelelo, Beacon Bay, claims three “drunk” East London police officers extorted thousands of rands from him during a cigarette raid on Sunday night.

Though Elias Bekele, who is originally from Somalia, admitted he had been selling cigarettes in contravention of lockdown regulations, he said his “arrest” was a sham because the officers later released him without charge when he paid them R3,500.

He claimed this is the third time it has happened to him.

According to Bekele, three officers driving an unmarked van ransacked his shop and drove him to the East London CBD, where they demanded money in exchange for his freedom.

After he paid them, he reported the incident to Beacon Bay police later on Sunday night, he told the Dispatch.

Bekele was part of a group of seven people from Nompumelelo who went to the police station, he said.

There, they were told the van did not belong to Beacon Bay police but was based at East London police station in the CBD, witnesses said.

Detailed questions were sent to provincial police spokesperson Colonel Sibongile Soci and to Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) spokesperson Ndileka Cola.

Cola said the matter had not been reported to Ipid.

“The victim is advised to open a case at the police station and also report the same to our Eastern Cape-based office,” she said.

Soci said: “SAPS views these allegations very seriously and urges the complainants in this matter to come forward to open cases and provide statements which will assist with the investigation.

“Upon receiving such [information], an investigation into the matter will be conducted and necessary departmental steps will be taken depending on the outcome of the investigation.”

More than 15 Nompumelelo residents told the Dispatch they had witnessed the drama as it unfolded.

They claimed one of the officers, who went by the name

“K”, drew his firearm to scare them off and broke the cellphone of a resident who attempted to capture the drama on video.

Bekele said: “The police were drunk and they took R3,500 from me because they found out I was selling cigarettes at my shop.

“They never took me to the police station. They just asked for money and they didn’t open a case.

“They said to me if I didn’t want to sleep in jail I must pay that money. They also took three cartons of cigarettes [worth about R450 each] and more than R1,000 at my shop.”

He said when one of his employees called to him to tell him police were raiding the shop, he brought money along because he “knew what was happening”.

Bekele said he was now beginning to think rogue police officers were targeting him.

“This is not the first time they robbed me. It’s three times now and I think police are following me or something. I’m tired now. One of them was drunk — too much.”

Witness Asonge Yekanye said the incident occurred shortly after 8pm on Sunday.

One of the officers went to Bekele’s spaza shop to buy cigarettes, which they later “confiscated”.

She was part of the group who reported the incident to Beacon Bay police, where she said they were told the van belonged to East London police station in Fleet Street.

“None of the officers wore their SAPS badges and they don’t even work in our area.

“[Resident] Sinazo [Mtangane] wanted to record them on video but the officer ‘K’, who was so drunk, smashed her phone on the ground and he took out his gun and cocked it to scare us,” Yekanye claimed.

Mtangane said the officers were not wearing face masks.

“I told them they were going to bring us coronavirus because they were not wearing masks.

“I took out my phone to record them and ‘K’ came to me and slapped my phone and it fell to the ground.”

Another witness, Thandiwe Xhalanga, said it was “confusing” that police were getting “drunk as skunks” while the ban on alcohol was still in place.

The police were drunk and they took R3,500 from me because... I was selling cigarettes

The victim is advised to open a case at the police station and report to our EC office