By A Correspondent- A Form Four pupil who was not wearing a face mask almost fell victim to fake police officers who were demanding a bribe.

The pupil (16), who cannot be named, was at Bulawayo’s Centenary Park with his girlfriend, cudd_ling on the lawn under a tree, when Mduduzi Dube (31) and Fanuel Ncube (29), who are both from Pumula South suburb, pounced on them.

They told them that they were police officers from Bulawayo Central Police Station, but they did not produce identification cards.

Ncube and Dube harassed the lovebirds for not wearing face masks. They arrested them and said they were taking them to Bulawayo Central Police Station.

When they had walked for about 100 metres, the fake police officers demanded a bribe.

“They told me that I will rot in jail and to avoid that I have to pay them. I gave them R100,” said the pupil.

As the bogus cops were being paid, police officers from Kumalo Police Station came to their rescue.

“They asked them what was happening and the young couple told them that they were arrested by police officers for not wearing a face mask and had paid them R100 fine so that they would be set free,” said a source close to investigations.

The real police officers asked Dube and Ncube to produce their police IDs, but they failed, said a source.

“They were then arrested and taken to Kumalo Police station,” said a source.

Bulawayo police spokesperson Inspector Abednico Ncube confirmed the incident: “I can confirm that we arrested two male adults for impersonating police officers.

They ordered a Form Four pupil who was not wearing a mask to give them a R100 bribe. We would like to urge community members to adhere to Covid-19 protocols by wearing face masks properly and sanitise so as to avoid falling to prey to unscrupulous people.”

-BMetro