Johannesburg - The sustained operations by the Johannesburg Metro Police Department and the South African Police Service in Gauteng has netted another suspect, and thousands worth of alleged counterfeit goods.
JMPD and SAPS officers staged a raid at a shop at the Newtown Mall in the Joburg CBD after they were tipped off that a shopowner was involved in dealing with stolen goods.
The joint operation by the two law enforcement agencies saw police recover 60 allegedly stolen laptops, which were recovered at the shop and confiscated by the police, as well more than R12 000 in counterfeit money and upto R100 000 worth of counterfeit goods.
JMPD spokesperson Wayne Minnaar said the police also recovered and confiscated more than R35 000 worth of ‘genuine money’ as well as eight TV sets, which police suspect were stolen.
“During a joint operation JMPD and SAPS raided a shop inside the Newtown Mall today, at the corner of Lilian Ngoyi Street and Harisson Street, Johannesburg CBD, after receiving a tipoff that the owner was dealing with stolen goods.
“One male suspect , in late thirties who is the owner of the shop was arrested and charged at Johannesburg Central Police Station for possession and for dealing in suspected stolen goods,” Minnaar confirmed.
Joburg police have in recent months stepped up operations relating to the counterfeit goods market. In one of the earlier operations, police officers were left embarrassed, when they were outnumbered and stoned by an angry mob which reacted violently when they tried to conduct an operation in the Joburg CBD.
Police also confiscated 80 allegedly stolen laptops. Picture: Supplied
Immediately after the incident, police vowed that they would continue to tackle the issue of counterfeit goods despite being forced to retreat by a mob in Joburg.
Meanwhile, the latest crime performance statistics, which were released by the JMPD last week, showed that police had recovered more than R273m worth of counterfeit goods in the Braamfontein and Joburg Inner City region alone in the month of August 2019.