A policeman from the South African Police Service in Makhado (Louis Trichardt) is facing serious criminal charges, after he allegedly misused police resources to aid and abet suspected robbers.

According to information supplied by the police, Sgt Funanani Edwin Bugana (40) assisted three suspected thieves by supplying them with identification documents which enabled them to introduce themselves as members of the police’s special unit against organised crime, the Hawks. Bugana, who is a Local Criminal Record Centre (LCRC) official, allegedly also supplied the suspects with a warrant of arrest. It is suspected that Bugana made use of his issued police camera and computer to manufacture these documents.

Following a botched robbery on the day before Christmas, Bugana gave himself up at the Musina police station. Together with one of the three suspected thieves, the 38-year-old Rudzani Victor Mphoshomali, he had to spend Christmas and New Year's day behind bars. The other two suspects involved have yet to be arrested.

Provincial police spokesperson Brig Hangwani Mulaudzi confirmed the incident this week. According to him, Mphoshomali and two other suspects pretended to be members of the Hawks and “searched” a business in Musina. Arriving in their “official” police vehicle, they accused a Musina businessman of money laundering in his shop. After searching the shop, they then allegedly seized several thousand rands in different currencies.

A female hawker across the street from the shop suspected foul play and pulled over a patrolling police vehicle. When the police went to investigate, they found the three suspects in the shop with a plastic bag full of money. When they questioned the men, they found that their documentation was fraudulent. The warrant of arrest was allegedly not even signed by a magistrate but by a station commissioner.

The three suspects, after allegedly trying to bribe the police members on the scene with the “confiscated” money, then tried to elude arrested and fled from the scene, with two of them managing to escape. Mphoshomali, after his arrest, implicated Bugana as the fourth suspect.

Bugana and Mphoshomali’s case was postponed until this year, and they appeared in the Musina Magistrate’s Court for a bail application on Monday, 6 January. Both were released on R5 000 bail each.

Mulaudzi confirmed that Bugana's camera and computer were seized as evidence to investigate the claims made against him. Bugana, as an LCRC official, is responsible for evidence collecting and the photographing of crime and accident scenes.

His and Mphoshomali's cases was postponed until 18 February, pending further police investigation.