Pretoria - Police in Tshwane arrested over 425 people during the Christmas long weekend for various crimes including driving under the influence of alcohol, malicious damage to property, theft, fraud and possession of unlicensed firearms and ammunition..
The police were able to make these arrests and also mitigate certain anticipated gatherings at identified areas which could have been Covid-19 super spreader events.
Tshwane District Commissioner Major General Mohajane together with management monitored the weekend operation from air which assisted in activating forces on the ground to attend to places that were spotted and identified for non-compliance of Disaster Management Act.
From the 425 arrested suspects, more than 45 were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol while others were busted for the abuse of alcohol and drinking in public and selling liquor without a licence.
Some of the suspects were busted for assault, malicious damage to property, possession of stolen property, theft, fraud, business robbery and possession of unlicensed firearms and ammunition.
Various methods of policing were conducted which included high density operations and safer festive season operations, detectives operation, crime intelligence and multidisciplinary teams from other law enforcement units.
Police spokesperson Captain Augustinah Selepe said one suspect aged 33 was arrested in Pretoria Central following a business robbery. A firearm and ammunition was recovered.
"In a separate incident at Pretoria Moot, a swift police reaction led to the arrest of a 22-year-old suspect for business burglary at Jakaranda Animals Hospital. This was after an eyewitness alerted the police.
"It is also important to mention that awareness campaigns through social crime prevention and communication contributed towards communities compliance to Covid-19 regulations and the prevention of crime."
Mohajane applauded law enforcement for being hard on the ground monitoring parks and entertainment places.
She further thanked the event organisers that cooperated with law enforcements in canceling some events that could be a risk for spread of the virus.
"Let's thank community members who gave us information on people that are not observing DMA regulations," she said.
Pretoria News