Cape Town - Fourteen people were arrested and a gun and ammunition seized during an Operation Fiela raid in Manenberg early on Thursday morning.
Police and the army and other law enforcement agencies raided gang-ridden Manenberg in order to stabilise peace in the area, following ongoing gang wars.
This is the second raid in Manenberg. Early on Thursday morning a large contingent of police and army set up roadblocks, and conducted searches and seizures.
Some residents complained that the police and army had broken down their doors.
Operation Fiela focused on drugs, illegal firearms and other criminal activities.
Police spokesperson Andre Traut said on Thursday the lock-down operation yielded significant results. He said that one person was arrested for possession of an illegal firearm and ammunition, with the serial number of the firearm filed off; one person was arrested for being in possession of tik; and 14 people were arrested on warrants of arrests in a number of several cases.
Traut said the search and seizure operation was followed by patrols on the streets of Manenberg and along local schools in the area.
Deputy provincial commissioner Jeremy Vearey commended the forces involved in the operation and promised residents that similar crime-prevention initiatives would be embarked upon in the near future.
Traut thanked community structures for joining the police in combating crime and providing information about crime in their areas.
When Operation Fiela rolled into Manenberg last week, residents were initially pleased, but at the weekend running gun battles were reported in the gang hot spot throughout, and one person was killed and another wounded in the shootings.
Thursday’s search and seizure operation was followed by patrols on the streets of Manenberg and along local schools in the area.
The escalation in violence comes two days after the army and police went into Manenberg as part of Operation Fiela (Reclaim), a countrywide initiative targeting various crimes.
Brigadier Andre Lincoln, provincial commander of the police’s anti-gangster operation, said at the weekend that the upsurge in gang violence was in response to Operation Fiela.
Cape Times