The police held a five day long cross border operation covering Eastern, Northern and Western Cape to address crimes that cross-cut into the three provinces such as illegal dealings in Non-Ferrous Metal, narcotics,theft of motor vehicles and a number of other crimes.
Resources such as personnel, vehicles and various types of equipment from the three provinces were put to use into this operation to help deal with these prevalent crimes affecting these provinces.
Scores of vehicles and people were stopped and searched and it resulted in the swift arrests and issuing of fines to offenders who committed various crimes. Some were wanted suspects while some had illegal substances in their possession such as dagga and different types of drugs. Most were apprehended on the national roads such as on the N1 and N12 while wanted Suspects were arrested at their various hideouts in Springbok in the Northern Cape and Mossel Bay in the Western Cape.
The greatest highlight of the operation was the arrest of three bus occupants, a 31-year-old suspect for possession of more than R44 000 worth of dagga and two suspects aged 28 and 29 for possession of mandrax tablets worth R2 Million in the Greater Karoo area on Thursday 29 June 2017 in the morning. An additional charge of bribery was instituted against the male passenger after he tried to bribe one of the officers with an amount of R800, 00. They were all on their way from Johannesburg and were headed for Cape Town.
The week long operation that was expeditiously conducted in the three participating provinces at different times saw a total of 134 people being arrested for various crimes that range from contravention of the immigration act to possession of firearm without a license. More than three thousand vehicles, three thousand people and 285 premises were searched in the three provinces resulting in the above-mentioned arrests and seizures.
Three .38 special revolvers and 18 live ammunition were recovered from three suspects in the Eastern Cape and they were all arrested and charged with possession of firearm without a license. One stolen Opel Corsa bakkie was also recovered in the Western Cape during an arrest of one suspect that was found in possession of mandrax tablets and large amount of cash and it led to the seizure of one trailer by the police as it was also used in the commission of crime.
A substantial amount of Dagga was seized in the three provinces including mandrax tablets worth more than R2 Million. Some of the offenders in the three synchronized provinces were only issued with fines for crimes such as the violation of the Traffic Act. A total of more than 161 fines were issued across the three provinces during the entire operation.
Some of the suspects arrested during this operation have already made their first appearance in court on 30 June 2017 while some will be appearing the following week in the three respective provinces.
While it is the primary responsibility of the South African Police Service to combat crime in its entirety, they can never achieve this mandate without the help of other government departments and stakeholders. The different units within the police such as the K9, Stock Theft, Tactical Response Team, Detectives, Public Order Police, Highway Patrol, Flying Squad and other units from the three provinces, successfully worked with the other departments that included Department of Home Affairs and Traffic Officials from the municipality and provincial offices.
The impact brought by this highly intensified and intelligence driven operation was greatly appreciated by the three Provincial Commissioners who are tasked with protecting the citizens of this country in the Eastern, Northern and Western Cape. All of them applauded the zeal and enthusiasm shown by the members of the SAPS and other departments throughout the entire operation
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