Durban -
An elite team of police detectives has descended on KwaZulu-Natal to tackle crime. And in their sights are some of the country’s most wanted criminals.
The team is headed by Lieutenant-General Vinesh Moonoo, the country’s divisional commissioner of detective services. He has brought with him some of the most experienced investigators from SAPS head office in Pretoria.
Their deployment comes after a public outcry over a number of high-profile murders. They include Bafana Bafana captain Senzo Meyiwa and students Shrivaar Panday and Kurtlee Pillay.
Meyiwa was shot dead in Vosloorus, Gauteng, while Panday and Pillay were killed in Durban in separate incidents.
At a briefing on Friday, Moonoo warned criminals that they were in for a bleak Christmas.
The team has already had successes. Since Monday, they have overseen the arrest of 830 suspects.
The team picked their targets after studying several hundred crime dockets for crimes such as murder, hijacking, rape and house robbery.
The police have also identified their 12 most wanted suspects who are being tracked in KZN.
Provincial police commissioner Lieutenant-General Mmamonnye Ngobeni said: “The intensive work done this week has yielded phenomenal success. I am proud to say the tracking teams, together with detectives throughout the province, have worked around the clock.”
Moonoo said the exact number of detectives involved in the operation and the methodology used to track suspects could not be divulged.
He promised the hunt for the country’s most dangerous criminals would be relentless.
“I can guarantee this will not be a once-off thing. We leave KZN next week to start this work in another province but we will be back. It will be ongoing until we find the people we are looking for.”
In addition to high-profile wanted suspects, Moonoo’s team is helping KZN detectives tie up incomplete investigations.
“We are looking at reported cases where nobody was arrested, cases that are still active. We’re looking at why they are outstanding and things that can be done to conclude investigations,” Moonoo said.
“There are instances in which suspects have been at large for some time, where they think that the police have closed the files. This is not the case. Arrests will be made.”
Moonoo said a priority would be to ensure that dockets were prepared for trial.
“We will do everything legally possible to ensure those arrested stay behind bars during the festive season. They must not be allowed to spend their ill-gotten gains.”
Ngobeni said detectives would also look at destroying illegal firearm syndicates in the province as a way to reduce violent crimes.
“We have found that most crimes are committed using illegal firearms. We have established teams who will focus on firearms and removing them from criminals.”
Ngobeni said Moonoo’s operation was intelligence-driven and relied on information from the public. She urged communities to be active in the fight against crime.
“We know that someone, somewhere, somehow knows something about a crime that is about to be committed and we rely on those people to come forward with information,” said Ngobeni.
“We can only be successful if communities come forward and assist us. We are reliant on those we serve. The time to take crime seriously is now.”
DA shadow police minister Dianne Kohler Barnard said while the arrests this week were positive, more consistent work was needed.
“Why should this situation exist in the first place? Why are dockets outstanding and why were 830 criminals roaming the streets when you could pick them up in a week?
“It’s a shame things get done only when you bring someone down from Pretoria to wake them up,” said Kohler Barnard.
“When you have to bring people from elsewhere to sort things out, it means people here aren’t doing the job they’re paid to do. We shouldn’t need Moonoo or whoever to come down here and make people do their jobs.”
Yusuf Abramjee of Lead SA said: “The arrests are welcome. We want to see more. When the police do good work, we need to compliment them because we are quick to criticise when nothing is done.
“The question I want to ask is: why wasn’t this done a long time ago?
“This sort of action needs to be extended to all provinces.”
- Sunday Tribune