By Nondumiso Mbuyazi

Five KwaZulu-Natal police officers have been arrested for corruption and cash-in-transit robbery. 

Two Ladysmith police officers, along with a security guard from Newcastle, were arrested on Wednesday by members of the Newcastle Organised Crime Unit, said police spokesperson, Senior Superintendent Jay Naicker. 

The breakthrough came after a spate of cash-in-transit robberies in the area late last year.

Naicker said the trio have been charged with a cash-in-transit robbery relating to an incident in Amesfoort on September 3. 

Naicker said that the suspects, who have also been linked to two other cash-in-transit-robberies, were expected to appear in court on Friday.
Also on Wednesday, the Durban Organised Crime Unit nabbed three police officers of the Mayville SAPS, charging them with corruption. 

The three are alleged to have extorted money from a suspect in a motor vehicle theft case. 

It is alleged that the police officers demanded a sum of money from the man accused of the theft, in return for not being detained. 

Naicker said the man then approached the Organised Crime Unit and a trap was set. 

"All three policemen were arrested after the money was handed over," Naicker said.

"We are very pleased with the arrests because they form part of our strategy to get rid of corrupt police officers."