KZN man ‘pretends to be mayor’, offers woman tender for R200K

A 28-year-old man is in custody after he was arrested for pretending to be the mayor of a municipality and offering a woman a tender in exchange for R200 000 up front.

Provincial Organised Crime Unit officers and Metro Police arrested the man on Saturday in Berea in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal.

According to police spokesperson Colonel Thembeka Mbele: “The woman became suspicious and reported the incident to police after she was instructed to put the cash into a plastic bag and wait for further instructions at a taxi rank.

“Police intercepted the suspect after he received the cash which he had instructed the woman to place into a bin at the taxi rank. The cash that he had accepted was recovered in his possession.”

The man was taken to the Durban Central police station and charged with extortion.

He is expected to appear in the Durban Magistrate’s Court on Monday.

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