Johannesburg - National police commissioner General Fannie Masemola says Operation Shanela has netted 21 200 suspects for various crimes ranging from murder, rape and malicious damage to property since it kicked off on May 8, 2023.
The weekend operation was carried out through various efforts, including regular stop and searches, vehicle check points, roadblocks, cordon and searches, high visibility patrols including foot patrols, the tracing of wanted suspects with a focus on the apprehension of murder and rape suspects, compliance inspections at liquor outlets as well as second-hand good dealers.
The breakdown of crimes that people have been arrested for during this period are as follows:
• 1 126 wanted suspects were arrested
• 188 suspects were arrested for murder
• 219 suspects were arrested for attempted murder
• 210 suspects arrested for rape
• 134 suspects for robbery with aggravating circumstances such as carjacking, truck hijacking, and CIT robbery
• 729 for burglary at residential and business premises
• 2 522 for assault GBH
• 1 808 for being in possession of drugs
• 1 103 for common assault
• 1 062 for dealing in drugs
• 861 for dealing illegally in liquor
• 774 for driving under the influence of alcohol
• 846 for possession of a dangerous weapon such as knives and other sharp objects
• 163 for possession of illegal and unlicensed firearms
• 1 425 illegal immigrants were also arrested during this period
Over and above the arrests, officers recovered a total of 138 vehicles as well as various drugs.
The various drugs which were were seized during this period:
• 397 grams of cocaine seized
• 861 grams of crack cocaine seized
• 8 047 grams of crystal meth seized
• 19 533 grams of nyaope seized
• 383 642 grams of mandrax powder seized
• 11 344 tablets of mandrax seized
While Operation Shanela has yielded quite some success, police have made a total arrest of 120 278 suspects between 1 December, 2022 - 5 June, 2023, for various crimes with the majority of their cases still before courts.
IOL