During a strategic planning meeting held by all senior managers of the South African Police Service at the beginning of the year in Mpumalanga, an analysis was made which showed an upward trend of serious crimes such as hijacking of motor vehicles, house and business robberies referred to as trio crimes.
Subsequently, all provinces were tasked to identify clusters with high trio crimes after it became apparent that normal conventional policing was not yielding results. Emanating from that, Trio Task Teams were established in Rustenburg, Mahikeng, Klerksdorp and Brits in the North West. At this stage and with implementation of the task teams, inroads have been made and critical successes achieved.
This became evident through apprehension of 226 suspects on 135 cases since 11 April 2017 to date. The arrested suspects include repeat offenders. In order to ensure interaction, successful prosecution and that the offenders remain in custody, Operational Coordination worked hard to establish if the arrested suspects are linked to other cases, not only in the North West but also at other provinces.
In Rustenburg, a suspect that was arrested on Sunday, 18 June 2017 for car hijacking, was linked to a case in Gauteng.
In Wolmaransstad, six suspects were arrested and two of them were linked to 40 cases ranging from murder to truck jacking in the province and Gauteng. It was also established that two of the suspects were wanted for theft and robbery in Meadowlands and Carletonville.
In Ventersdorp, four suspects were arrested on Wednesday, 21 June 2017 for illegal possession of firearm. The suspects and their four co-accused were charged on 125 cases at 50 police stations including Bethal in Mpumalanga and Harrismith in Free State. Those arrested in Ventersdorp are expected to appear in court again on Monday, 03 July 2017 for formal bail application.
In another separate case in Wolmaransstad, four suspects arrested for illegal possession of firearm were also linked to 17 other cases in several provinces. Further investigation revealed that one of them is wanted in Florida, Gauteng for fraud.
To date, 54 vehicles and 39 firearms have been recovered by the Trio Task Teams. The team will continue with their sterling work to ensure that hardened criminals remain behind bars and that their cases are centralised and that bail is opposed.
The North West Provincial Commissioner, Lieutenant General Baile Motswenyane commended all the teams and other units for their efforts in ensuring that those who terrorize communities remain behind bars.
She further said that it is clear that with these arrests and linkages, trio crimes will decrease. She urged members of the community to collaborate with the police through existing structures such as Community Policing Forum (CPF) towards building safer communities.
South Africa Today – South Africa News
