Three weeks without quenching their taste for beer during the current coronavirus lockdown became too much for six South African police officers who have been arrested for wetting their dry throats at a drinking joint in the Free State Province, APA learnt on Monday.
Another group of six police officers was arrested after violating the regulations while manning a roadblock in Gauteng Province where they robbed occupants of a vehicle of US$2,000.
According to the South African Police Service (SAPS) on Monday, the 12 officers were arrested for allegedly violating the National Disaster Management Regulations as well as for corruption.
The men and women in uniform were entrusted with reinforcing the regulations put in place to overcome the pandemic until the end of April.
But the 24 days of lockdown six of the police officers have spent patrolling the streets without nursing their dry throats eventually proved too much for them, as they discretely slipped into a tavern – just for a sip or two.
This, however, left the SAPS with no choice but to intervene in the breach of regulations on the part of their own men, the police said.
“The arrest of our own is both disheartening, and at the same time, pleasing,” National Police Commissioner Khehla Sitole said on Monday.
Sitole added: “In a sense, this shows that the South African Police Service remains unbiased, and that it has the capacity and the capability to decisively deal with criminality within its ranks.”
NM/jn/APA