Cape Town – The City of Cape Town enforcement agencies managed to arrest over 100 suspects and issued over 66,500 fines in the past week.
In a statement released, mayoral committee member of the safety and security, Alderman JP Smith said enforcement agencies departments also managed to confiscate several firearms and a large amount of drugs.
He said officers confiscated illegal firearms on a near daily basis and each weapon that was taken off the street potentially saved a life.
Smith said the guns and drugs chip away at the fabric of communities.
He says his department is doing all it can to ensure communities are safer but that it needs the ongoing cooperation of all involved, including other agencies and residents.
He said on Sunday, a joint operation between Metro Police Tactical Response Unit and Manenberg SAPS led to the recovery of a firearm hidden on the top floor of a block of flats in Manenberg.
Officers found a 9mm Z88 with its serial number filed off and eight live 9mm rounds of ammunition and two magazines that were booked in as abandoned.
A 26-year-old man was also arrested in Kleinvlei after an imitation firearm was found hidden in the front of his shirt on Thursday.
“Officers deployed in terms of the Law Enforcement Advancement Plan (LEAP) continue to make inroads in the hotspot areas.
“This past week they responded to a shooting incident in Hanover Park and came across a man who had been shot in the hip.
“They waited for SAPS and while busy with visible policing and searches in the vicinity of the shooting they noticed a group walking across a field.
“One of the men resisted being searched and when an officer got him on the ground, an Astra 38 calibre revolver was found in his possession,” Smith said.
He said LEAP officers also confiscated a .38 special revolver with five rounds in the chamber was found under his seat. The arrest comes after a chase down by officers after the driver refused to stop.
Three suspects were subsequently arrested and further investigation revealed the driver was in contravention of his bail conditions which prohibited him from being in Delft.
“Illegal firearms play a big role in the violence in our communities. The weapons confiscated may seem like a drop in the ocean, but with each one taken off the street we reduce the risk of someone dying in a shooting,” Smith said.
Metro Police officers issued 3 109 fines and confiscated 15 mandrax tablets, six halve tablets of mandrax, 52 small ziplock bags of methamphetamine, two clear packets of methamphetamine, 33 packets of methamphetamine and 114 units of Unga.
He said the City’s traffic services arrested 87 people, consicated 143 cell phones, impounded 186 vehicles and issued 66 220 fines.
A three-day transport enforcement operation was held in Brackengate and Brackenfell which resulted in the arrest of 14 suspects, 109 taxis being impounded and 4 891 fines issued for various transgressions.
Smith said of the drivers arrested, 37 were found to be driving under the influence of alcohol.
He also stated the amount of cellphones confiscated proved the blatant disregard for the law by motorists.
“This is a dice with death and the odds are rarely in favour of those who gamble with their own lives and other road users,” he added.
African News Agency (ANA)