’Mantoetse Maama
MASERU — A rogue former police officer, Potlako Nalane, was last week sentenced to five years imprisonment after he was found guilty of car theft.
The police said Nalane, who resigned from the Lesotho Mounted Police Service (LMPS) in April, stole a vehicle in Ha Mabote.
He was also accused of engaging in several other criminal indiscretions.
Nalane was sentenced to five years in prison without an option of a fine.
Police spokesperson Masupha Masupha said Nalane’s case clearly showed that no one is above the law.
“Everyone who is found guilty of a criminal offence will be charged even if they are members of the LMPS. Police officers who commit crime are arrested and charged like any other offenders,” he said.
Masupha said Nalane was facing several other criminal cases that are still to be dealt with by the courts.
In separate incidents, a 28-year-old man of Chinese descent was arrested together with a 48-year-old Mosotho man for allegedly selling alcohol without a licence last Monday.
According to the police report the two were operating a restaurant in Maseru where they were selling alcohol without a licence.
“Two men were arrested for selling alcohol without a licence at Tip Top Restaurant. The suspects appeared before a Maseru magistrate facing charges of operating a business without licences,” Masupha said.
“They were each sentenced to M1 000 or one year in prison. Half of the sentence was suspended for five months or M500. They paid their fine and were released,” Masupha said.
He said the police confiscated all alcohol that was sold by the suspects.
Meanwhile, two men from Motimposo were arrested for allegedly robbing a woman near the Police Training College (PTC) last Tuesday.
The suspects, aged 18 and 27, were caught after they had a shoot-out with the police as they resisted arrest. The suspects had allegedly stolen a woman’s handbag.
The 27-year-old suspect was shot during the shoot-out and is currently recovering in a local hospital.
The police said he will be charged as soon as he is discharged from hospital.
His other accomplice has since appeared in court where he was convicted and sentenced to eight years in prison or a fine of M8 000. Half of the sentence was however suspended and was sentenced to an effective four-year jail term.
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