DURBAN - KwaZulu-Natal police arrested more than 8 000 suspects in February.
Police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Nqobile Gwala said police have embarked on a number of multidisciplinary operations targeting individual crimes on specific days of the week. Police operations have been conducted in all districts across the province and will continue as long as criminals plague neighbourhoods.
“During the period from February 1, 2022, until February 28, 2022, police officers across the province arrested 8 628 persons for various crimes. A total of 2 681 arrests were made for contact crimes. The contact crimes arrests include 139 arrests for murder, 261 for robberies, 209 for rape, 1 780 for assaults as well as 108 for trio crimes (carjacking, house robbery and business robbery). A total 352 arrests were made for property crimes such as burglary, theft of vehicles and stock theft,” Gwala said.
“Dangerous weapons, large quantity of drugs, liquor and counterfeit goods were seized by police during these operations. A total of 1 839 suspects were arrested for drug-related offences and 716 were arrested for liquor-related offences in KwaZulu-Natal during this period, while 443 suspects were arrested for driving whilst under the influence of liquor. Police seized 273 illegal firearms with 3 269 various rounds of ammunition in operations during the same period. All firearms seized will be subjected to ballistic testing to determine if they were used in any other crime.”
Gwala said during the operations, police utilised various operational concepts such as roadblocks, stop and searches, raids on drug dens as well as liquor outlets and suspect raids. Compliance inspections were carried out on specific entities that contribute to the crime picture, such as second-hand vehicle dealers, scrap yards and pawn shops.
She added that the increased involvement of communities in community police forums and other legal crime-fighting groups is most welcome as vigilance is key to breaking the back of crime syndicates. During this period many criminal groups were intercepted by police and security companies as they were prowling the streets with the intention of committing crimes.
“We also urge citizens to continue providing tip-offs to police on criminal activities by contacting your local police stations as well as Crime Stop on 08600 10111 or by reporting via the MySAPS app,” Gwala said.
Daily News