Pietermaritzburg detective arrested for ‘selling’ stolen high-calibre firearm

AN OFF-duty Pietermaritzburg detective was nabbed when he allegedly tried to sell a high-calibre firearm, which had been stolen from a KwaZulu-Natal police station in 2006.

The 52-year-old warrant officer, who is a detective at the Mountain Rise police station, was allegedly in the process of selling the firearm and ammunition for R10 000 to an unemployed person, in Northdale.

The firearm is believed to be worth about R40 000 and was stolen from the Richmond police station in October 2006.

Santhalingum Munsamy Reddy appeared in the Pietermaritzburg Magistrate’s Court on Monday, and was remanded until his formal bail application, next week.

“The officer was charged for the contravention of the Firearms Control Act after he was found in possession of a rifle. The arrest was made after police received reports of a person who was selling a high-calibre firearm. When police got to the area, the suspect was found with an R5 rifle and investigations revealed it was a police firearm which had been stolen.

“The firearm will be subjected to ballistic testing to ascertain whether it was used in the commission of crimes,” said Colonel Robert Netshiunda, spokesperson for the KZN police.

A police source said the detective had been an officer for 31 years.

He alleged the detective had been trying to secure a buyer for the gun for the past two weeks.

“On the night of his arrest, he was negotiating a deal for the gun, which is worth about R40 000, with an unemployed man from Northdale. The man buys and sells items, and was a random individual whom he had approached.

“It has been alleged he was attempting to sell the gun to the man for R10 000. When police pounced on him, he was in casual clothes, and not in his uniform. He had exited the driver’s seat of his vehicle and was carrying a parcel. He placed it on the floor as police nabbed him. It was then that the police realised the man they were arresting was a colleague. His son was present when he was arrested,” the source alleged.

The detective was described as a humble man who had been “in and out of rehabilitation centres” for his alleged drug addiction.

“He is a humble man, but he had a drug addiction problem and was struggling to cope. He was in and out of drug rehabilitation centres. It is unfortunate to see his life take this turn.

“With the high crime rate, a weapon of this calibre should not be out in the streets or sold on the black market. If it got into the hands of a syndicate, the damage could be disastrous,” the source alleged.

Provincial police commissioner, Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, called for corrupt police officers to be removed from their jobs.

“Corrupt officers must be arrested and removed from serving the people. Guns stolen from police stations are a significant concern. Police should be custodians of guns and keep them safe. Any gun in the wrong hands is likely to be used to commit violent crimes. Firearms are secured at police stations and other police buildings. Tighter measures have been put in place to control access, and only designated officers control the movements of firearms,” he said.

In a recent address on the state of policing in KZN, Mkhwanazi said 106 police officers were dismissed for various acts of misconduct, ranging from corruption, violation of disciplinary code to bringing the organisation into disrepute.

Mary de Haas, an independent crime expert, said dozens of guns had gone missing from police hands each year. She blamed a “culture of impunity” within the police as the root of the problem.

“If no one is disciplined when guns disappear from police stations, and the ones who are responsible for the safe storage of the guns are not facing consequences, then that is where the problem starts.

“Police are not taking missing guns seriously. There’s a culture of impunity, and nobody seems to face disciplinary hearings. This is the crux of the problem,” De Haas added.

She urged police to thoroughly investigate the police officer who was found with the stolen R5 rifle.

“I hope there will be a proper investigation into this case. Who knows where this gun had been used. Another problem is when an officer is issued a gun, it is not always certain that they passed and updated their competency licence to handle a different weapon from the service pistol.

“But if they need a more high-calibre weapon for an operation or to arrest a drug lord, they just book out one of those high calibre rifles. Police management is doing nothing about it. This goes right back to inadequate police management of guns,” she said.

THE POST