Cape Town - Police in the Western Cape have arrested 864 wanted suspects over the past week, of which 16 were for murder, 17 for attempted murder, and 27 for rape.
Police spokesperson Malcolm Pojie, said the arrests were made during Operation Shanela, a high-density operation conducted throughout the province from June 5 to 11.
A total of 2 179 suspects were arrested for various criminal offences.
“Of the 2179 arrests made, 864 were wanted suspects of which 16 were for murder, 17 for attempted murder, 27 for rape, 334 for assaults, and an array of crimes comprising business robberies, house robberies and other crimes,” said Pojie.
In other operations, including raids, vehicle checkpoints, roadblocks, as well as stop and searches, 375 people were arrested over the same period.
Seizures from the operations included:
- 38kg of dagga, 180grams of tik, and 566 mandrax tablets;
- 27 firearms; and
- 183 rounds of different calibres
“The high-density integrated operations aim to curb, combat and detect crime throughout the province.
“The operations also address crime generators such as drugs, alcohol and illegal firearms with raids executed at illegal liquor outlets, suspected drug outlets and compliance inspections carried out at licensed liquor outlets,” said Pojie.
“They are set to continue until crime levels are drastically reduced. Scores of police officials from various units and police stations are deployed to these operations on a weekly basis.”
Cape Times