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A
CLERK working inside week after next and he will be
the Alexandra police kept at high-risk holding cells.
station has been During questioning, he alle-
arrested for selling gedly gave police several leads
high-calibre R-5 rifles and hand- that led to two further arrests.
guns from police safes to the crim- The pair, who are civilians,
inal underworld. were likely to appear in court
Detectives from the Joburg today. They are suspected of
Organised Crime Unit are investi- either buying the weapons or
gating whether the weapons sold helping to sell them.
were used by syndicates in the When asked why police had
recent spate of violent robberies brought the docket to court after
at shopping malls. 11am, an unidentified police offi-
The administrative clerk from cer from the Organised Crime
the station’s logistics unit may Unit – who escorted Tshamana –
have sold as many as six R-5 rifles said the delay was because he was
and 16 handguns that should have ordered to report first at the
been used by officers at his station police’s provincial head office.
and the Sandton police station. “It’s a massive thing,” he told
Police sources close to the investi- the court.
gation say the guns have not been Magistrate Renier Boshoff
recovered and may have been sold then said: “He can probably tell
for as little as R3 500 for a rifle and you who he sold the guns to. He
R1 000 for a handgun. can probably solve a few cases if
A police weapons expert said you investigate properly.”
this was roughly one-third of A police source at the Alexan-
their worth. dra police station said Tshamana
It’s suspected the sales could worked in the logistics depart-
have been going on since March. ment, which sources and distrib-
“We’re fighting these guys on utes firearms, vehicles and other
the streets and our own is arming equipment. He allegedly managed
them,” one angry police officer to order weapons from the Sand-
from an affected station said ton police station for the purpose
yesterday. of selling them.
A lot of questions about how “He had access,” the source
the weapons were allowed to van- said. “And that’s why he managed
ish from the safes, and why it took to get away with it.”
several months before the crime Tshamana is a civilian work-
was spotted, now need answering. ing at the police station. He has
Aubrey Tshamana was arrest- allegedly been there for more than
ed on Monday after it was dis- five years.
covered that the weapons were Detectives are trying to trace
missing. the recipients of the weapons in
The 26-year-old appeared in the a bid to get them back. If their
Alexandra Magistrate’s Court efforts to link the weapons to
(previously Wynberg Magistrate’s armed robberies at malls pay off,
Court), where State prosecutor they could be in a position to
Adele Barnard charged him charge Tshamana with much
‘REGULAR GUY’: Police clerk Aubrey Tshamana, 26, appeared in the Alexandra Magistrate’s Court yesterday for allegedly selling rifles and handguns. PICTURE: JENNIFER BRUCE with theft and possession of more serious crimes.