Our resolve to reduce the levels of serious crime generators and proliferation of illegal weapons received a resounding success when three hundred and nineteen rounds of ammunition and twenty five firearms were seized at different clusters in the past seven days through targeted deployment of resources and personnel.
Eastern Cape police officers embarked on a number of operations in the province from 7 September until 16 September 2019. Operations including roadblocks, suspect raids, stop and search operations, inspections on liquor outlets, cordon and search operations and intensive patrols were conducted in various parts of the province.
A total of one thousand two hundred and thirty (1 230) suspects were arrested for various crimes. Of these 171 suspects were arrested for drugs related crimes while 53 were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol/drugs and 11 for illegal possession of firearms and ammunition.
A total of 253 were arrested for assaults, 38 for robberies, 37 for theft of stock, 35 for rape, 19 were for murder, 17 for house robberies and 15 for business robberies and two for carjacking. Others were arrested for attempted murder, dealing in liquor without license, possession of suspected stolen property, drunk in a public place to name but a few.
Drugs such as dagga, heroine, mandrax and cocaine were seized during these operations. Suspected stolen vehicles, suspected stolen livestock, dangerous weapons and knives were also seized.
All arrested suspects appeared in various courts in the province while others were issued with summons to pay fines.
Eastern Cape Provincial Commissioner, Lt Gen Liziwe Ntshinga commended the members involved in all the operations. “When operational policing services are directed and coordinated, arrests are affected to prevent and combat crime in areas where crime is infested. We will continue with these operations until crime is stabilized across the province,” said Lt Gen Ntshinga.
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