In a twist in law enforcement, some police officers are currently helping their colleagues with investigations involving theft of stock as Broadhurst police hold 20 carcasses as evidence.
Five police officers and three kitchen staff are currently helping the Broadhurst Police with investigations regarding the stock theft after they were found in possession of 20 carcasses of allegedly stolen goats.
An assistant superintendent, two sub-inspectors, a sergeant and a constable are scheduled to appear before the Broadhurst Magistrate Court in conjunction with the 20 stolen goats.
The police officers were sent on behalf of the Organizing Committee for the Annual Conference for Senior Officers that took place at the SSG Barracks last week. The officers were supposed to find meat for the conference and were given money, P650 for each beast, to go and pay for the 20 goats after the goats had already been seen and approved by a senior officer of the police. The team was lead by another assistant superintendent and upon final payment, all goats were slaughtered in front of the farmer and his farm hand.
While the police officers were still skinning the animals, a police team from Oodi arrived in response to a complaint from neighbouring farmers who had reported three cases in which a total of 14 goats having gone missing.
The neighbours were able to identify 14 of the goats in which six goats belonged to one farmer while eight belonged to two different farmers; the remaining six goats belonged to the owner of the farm, who had pocketed P13 000 for all the goats killed.
The Oodi police officers took all those present into custody and later handed the case over to the Broadhurst Police Station. All the carcasses were impounded as evidence in the case.
In an interview with Sunday Standard, Superintendent Dipheko Motube of the Botswana Police Public Relations office said, “Yes, we do have such a case but I can not reveal more as investigations are still ongoing.”
Motube revealed that the matter is still before the court and would be heard on the 15th of July at the Broadhurst Magistrate court.
Information passed to Sunday Standard revealed that the farmer was approached by the police to supply them with goats and during the time when the police officers were at his farm, the farmer showed them his own goats. The day before the goats were to be collected, the farmer, aged 37, and his helper, a Zimbabwean aged 31, managed to steal goats from their neighbours.
The neighbours reported the matter to the police who then acted on a tip off of where a sale of 20 goats had been concluded on the 7th of June.
The Organizing Committee for the Annual Conference for Senior Police Officers had to source for funds from elsewhere to buy meat for the participants.
