Johannesburg - The National Commissioner of the SAPS, General Fannie Masemola, said the organisation’s high-density "Operation Shanela" was making progress in the fight against crime.
Masemola revealed that to date, the operations had led to the arrest of 109 540 suspects as a result of heightened police visibility.
He said the operation’s success rested on a multidisciplinary and integrated approach to fighting crime, working together with various government departments and law enforcement agencies such as local, metro, and traffic police officials.
The focus of these operations includes regular roadblocks, the tracing of wanted suspects, searches at premises, cordoning and searches at problematic hostels, unlicensed liquor premises, compliance inspections at licensed liquor outlets, second-hand goods dealers, scrapyards, informal businesses such as spaza shops to ensure labour law compliance, and compliance visits at mines and farming areas.
Masemola said that in the past week alone, from August 14 to August 20, 2023, 9 656 suspects were arrested for various crimes.
From May 8 to date, 1 550 illegal and unlicensed firearms had been recovered.
The breakdown of recoveries to date is as follows:
- 744 vehicles that were either stolen or hijacked were recovered.
- 129 499kg of copper cable were recovered.
- 374 138 items of counterfeit goods were recovered.
The breakdown of arrests is as follows:
- 13 603 wanted suspects for murder, rape, and other crimes were arrested.
- 10 645 illegal immigrants were arrested for being in the country illegally.
-1 512 suspects were arrested for murder.
- 1 090 for attempted murder.
- 1 694 suspects were arrested for rape.
- 4 129 suspects were arrested for dealing drugs.
- 8 051 suspects were arrested for being in possession of drugs.
- 433 car hijackers were arrested.
"We are registering commendable progress in the fight against crime; the number of those arrested during this period gives us hope that this is a step in the right direction. Working closely with all stakeholders in the fight against crime, including our communities, we can achieve more successes, and we will continue with heightened visibility operations so as to continue to rid our communities of all forms of criminality," said Masemola.
Communities are encouraged to continue to report any suspicious activities or wrongdoing to 0860010111 or to their nearest police station.
The Star