Without even a police uniform or badge, a 21-year-old man is alleged to have conned police officers out of state money and airtime on 22 occasions by pretending to be a brigadier.
Sandile Nkosi, who made his first court appearance last week, will be back in the East London Magistrate’s Court this morning applying for bail. He faces over two dozen counts of fraud.
It is alleged unemployed Nkosi travelled around the Eastern Cape for a year impersonating a police brigadier, a senior staff rank.
He allegedly started with his confidence trickery in May last year.
It is the state’s case Nkosi contacted police stations telling them he was a senior member of the service and they must give him money.
He also asked for airtime, which he allegedly said was to phone informers.
According to the state, he asked for about R600 each time and that he wanted to check an inventory of prisoners in cells as well as to check how many firearms each station had.
Some of the police stations targeted by Nkosi included Qumbu, Tsolo, Bizana, Mount Frere, Motherwell, Kabega Park, Jeffreys Bay, Fort Beaufort, Cofimvaba, Cradock, Grahamstown, Duncan Village, Middleburg, Mount Ayliff and Matatiele.
He was arrested last month in Mpangeni, KwaZulu-Natal, after police officers traced his cellphone.
Nkosi appeared briefly in court yesterday where prosecuting state advocate Joel Ceaser asked magistrate Nazeem Joemath to postpone Nkosi’s bail application.
“The state is trying to confirm his address but it is difficult because it is in the villages,” Ceaser said.
He was arrested by police from the organised crime unit and details of his arrest and how the crimes were committed are expected to emerge today during the bail application. — siyab@dispatch.co.za
Police allegedly duped by ‘brigadier’
Sandile Nkosi, who made his first court appearance last week, will be back in the East London Magistrate’s Court this morning applying for bail. He faces over two dozen counts of fraud.
It is alleged unemployed Nkosi travelled around the Eastern Cape for a year impersonating a police brigadier, a senior staff rank.
He allegedly started with his confidence trickery in May last year.
It is the state’s case Nkosi contacted police stations telling them he was a senior member of the service and they must give him money.
He also asked for airtime, which he allegedly said was to phone informers.
According to the state, he asked for about R600 each time and that he wanted to check an inventory of prisoners in cells as well as to check how many firearms each station had.
Some of the police stations targeted by Nkosi included Qumbu, Tsolo, Bizana, Mount Frere, Motherwell, Kabega Park, Jeffreys Bay, Fort Beaufort, Cofimvaba, Cradock, Grahamstown, Duncan Village, Middleburg, Mount Ayliff and Matatiele.
He was arrested last month in Mpangeni, KwaZulu-Natal, after police officers traced his cellphone.
Nkosi appeared briefly in court yesterday where prosecuting state advocate Joel Ceaser asked magistrate Nazeem Joemath to postpone Nkosi’s bail application.
“The state is trying to confirm his address but it is difficult because it is in the villages,” Ceaser said.
He was arrested by police from the organised crime unit and details of his arrest and how the crimes were committed are expected to emerge today during the bail application. — siyab@dispatch.co.za
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