POLICE officer, Sackey Fillips, this week confiscated reporter Clemans Miyanicwe’s mobile phone and demanded that the reporter reveal the name of a senior officer he mentioned on Facebook, as well as the names of police officers who are reportedly smoking dagga.

On Tuesday Miyanicwe went to the Khorixas police station to report a case against Mogale Karimbue, chairperson of Kunene Youth Forum, based at the Ministry of Youth offices, after they had a heated argument over Miyanicwe’s Facebook update posted on Sunday.  “I had an argument with Karimbue at the Youth Hall after he accused me of insulting him and he ordered a security guard to chase me out of the Youth Hall,” Miyanicwe said. The contentious Facebook update reads: “Morning world, friends and loved-ones, I am so ashamed of a ‘youth officer’ and a ‘senior police officer’ who are drunk and seeking (attention) on stage. Do they think drinking alcohol in the middle of a beauty pageant is fashionable?” “I was so humiliated by his insults and threats, like ‘I will f*#k you up if you play with me,’” fumed Miyanicwe. Miyanicwe called the Khorixas police to alert them to the situation at the Youth Hall on Tuesday before heading to the station to report the matter. Karimbue arrived at the station while a constable stood listening to Miyanicwe’s account of events. Karimbue then called another policeman, Sackey Fillips, who according to Karimbue, is the ‘senior policeman’ implicated in Miyanicwe’s update. Fillips accused the reporter of having a vendetta against the police, but the reporter told him to read the actual update before drawing conclusions. Another police officer had to read the update aloud to Sackey as he struggled to read it. “Yes, tell me which officers are smoking dagga. You will see!” Sackey warned. The reporter refused to identify the police officers implicated in an article headlined, “Dagga popular among cops in Khorixas”, published two weeks ago.  “I refused to reveal the names of the cops who smoke dagga, as well as that of the senior policeman about whom I wrote on Facebook,“ Miyanicwe says. ‘Yes I wrote that update on my Facebook wall, because it irritated me to see cops and youth leaders drinking alcohol at a beauty pageant where young ones are at, as it was an event where mostly school-girls took part,” Miyanicwe said.  The Facebook update was deleted after the said policeman took the reporter’s phone and the phone has since been switched off. Miyanicwe vowed to open a case and will write to the Regional Police Commander.  “Why did the police delete my Facebook update?” Miyanicwe asks. “Cops such as Sackey destroy the image of other cops.”