A South African police officer has been arrested for stealing from his boss, Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa, who is tasked with bringing down high crime levels, his spokesman said Tuesday.A laptop and cellphone were taken from the minister's home in Cape Town.
"There was no break-in," said Mthethwa's spokesman Zweli Mnisi. "The person who took them was a police officer on duty guarding the house."
The items were found and the policeman was arrested with two other people who bought the goods. The three were set to appear in court on Wednesday.
South Africa had 256,577 residential burglaries in 2009 and 18,786 aggravated house robberies, part of the staggering crime problem in a nation with an average 46 killings a day.