A tense stand-off erupted at China Mall in Langlaagte, Johannesburg on Tuesday when the police, whom the Pakistani nationals alleged they were fake cops, rocked up at AAA Cellular and started searching the shop.
The shop owner, Noor Hussain, was shocked when the “police” wearing civilian clothes and with some “officers” clad in uniform budged into the shop and started searching without a search warrant.
Hussain told Sunday World that the “cops” were fake and they did not have a search warrant when they arrived at his shop.
“These guys are not even telling us which police station they come from. They don’t have a search warrant nor identification cards, but they want to search my shop. They are used to harassing us,” said Hussain.
Upon noticing what was happening, other shop owners abandoned their shops and challenged the search party to produce a search warrant.
Shoving and pushing between the “cops” and Pakistanis ensued and the tension reached boiling point when threats were made that people would be arrested.
One of the shop owners who identified himself as Ali said: “These guys came here and took phones that they claim they needed to take to the police station for verification.
“These fake cops come every two weeks to harass us. We have papers for trading here. This nonsense must stop.”
Sunday World asked the “cops” to state which police station they came from, but they refused to identify themselves nor state where they are stationed.
Asked if they had a search warrant, they responded by saying they are not going to talk to the media.
We sent questions to Colonel Dimakatso Sello for comment, however, she had not responded at the time of publishing.
The story will be updated once Sello has commented…
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