By: Justicia Shipena and Ludorf Iyambo
Police officer Domingo Kambinda Ndara (33) was apprehended after it was discovered he was stealing fuel from the police and selling it to make a profit.
Ndara, who was arrested on 13 May 2022, allegedly stole fuel at different fuelling police stations in Windhoek using his Toyota Bakkie.
The Toyota Bakkie was allocated to him to perform his duties within the Namibian Police.
He is employed at Nampol’s K-9 Dog School at Police College, located in Olympia in the capital.
Speaking to The Villager on Wednesday, Khomas police spokesperson warrant Silas Shipandeni says the amount of stolen fuel is unknown because he stole the fuel on numerous occasions at different police stations in Windhoek.
“All the fuelling stations that we have, he exercised this type of dealings. So we cannot tell how much of the fuel he stole,” he said.
He said Ndara had stolen the fuel from the police stations using the same cars.
“Which is a Toyota Bakkie which belongs to the unit or division where he works,” he added.
According to Shipandeni, Ndara started operating his fuel scheme in December last year.
“It started on 22 December 2021 until around 11 May 2022, which led to the arrest of our colleague,” he said.
He explained that Ndara would go to any police filling station and fill up the car.
“Then, after an hour, he goes to another station such as Otjumuise to fill up again with the same car just in a span of an hour. Where did you go that the tank ran empty within an hour and you have to fill up again? After an hour and 30 minutes, he would still approach another station to fuel up. On the same day, after 30 minutes or so, he would also go to the central depot,” he narrated.
He added that they suspected Ndara was using the exact kilometres at the various stations.
“He will take the same kilometre to fill the car, like from the central depot to Otjomuise there is a distance there. There is no way you can fill the same kilometre from Windhoek police station, and it is the same you use for Otjomuise, so that is impossible. The kilometre has to change. So that was one of the red flags.”
Shipandeni said the tip that they received that led to the investigation against Ndara was that he was selling fuel to taxis.
“What he does is fill the car, go pump it out, and sell it to the taxis. That is the information that we got. That led to the investigation until we discovered the fuelling scheme by Ndara,” said Shipandeni.
He further said the police have not yet determined who benefited from the scheme.
“Up until now, we did not get those that benefitted from his dealings, but the evidence is there,” he said.
He also said the investigation has also discovered that, sometimes, Ndara would skip a day at some filling stations to avoid being detected or questioned for any illegality.
“Like one day, he will only target two or three filling stations, and the next day he will turn up at the other filling stations.”
Ndara appeared in Windhoek Magistrates Court on Monday. He was denied bail, and the court postponed the matter to 3 August.
The arrest follows another arrest of a senior police officer in Kavango East last month, who, according to the police, stole 20 litres of fuel from Rundu’s police charge office’s service station.
Police Inspector-General Sebastian Ndeitunga previously said that officers stealing fuel are tarnishing the police’s image.
“All those who are stealing should be arrested and put behind bars, like we did in Rundu,” Ndeitunga observed. “They are tarnishing the image of the police, in fact of government and of the country, because he is a uniformed officer who is supposed to be an ambassador of everyone. Therefore, he was not supposed to be in law enforcement,” he said.
