Cape Town - A spate of arrests over the past week has revealed how many illegal firearms were in circulation among criminals in the Western Cape.
From April 27 to Tuesday, police have reported 11 unrelated cases around the peninsula in which firearms and ammunition were confiscated, and two in which ammunition was confiscated.
Police have arrested 14 people in connection with the firearms and ammunition, mostly while investigating other crimes or complaints from the public.
The problem with illegal firearms was a big one and it was estimated that there could be as many as 4 million illegal firearms in circulation in the country, researcher Kerwin Lebone of the Institute of Security Studies said.
As far as the percentage of legal firearms owners was concerned, South Africa was ranked 17th out of 178 countries studied by Cambridge University in 2005, Lebone said. South Africa had, on average, 1.7 firearms for each legally registered firearm owner.
In this country, 1 749 034 people were registered firearm owners and 3 081 173 firearms were registered in their names. This meant that the number of illegal firearms significantly outnumbered the legally registered ones.
In many of the cases in which police arrested people this week, the serial numbers of firearms were filed away.
On Tuesday, police were tipped off by nervous residents of Lotus River who complained that gangsters were walking the streets carrying firearms, said police spokesman Colonel Tembinkosi Kinana.
The policemen from the Grassy Park station were attending to complaints and patrolling in the Lotus River area when they were told about the gangsters.
When they got to 3rd Avenue they saw a group of men whom they stopped and searched, Kinana said. “One suspect attempted to escape from the police and ran. Police gave chase and saw the man throw something on top of a wendy house.
“The suspect was caught and arrested and police found a black Beretta pistol without a serial number and one magazine with 10 9mm rounds. The suspect, aged 22, from Lotus River, has been charged with possession of an illegal firearm and ammunition, a prohibited firearm and providing false details to SAPS members. He is in custody.”
In a separate incident on the same night, SAPS members searched a suspect in Merlin Road, Phumlani Village, who also tried to escape from the police, Kinana said. The police found him in a yard hiding behind a wendy house.
Upon arresting the suspect, they found a chrome .38 Special revolver with serial numbers filed off, and rounds of ammunition.
At 10pm on the same night, police arrested a man in Hanover Park, also with a pistol with its serial number filed away and with a full magazine of ammunition.
All those arrested in these and earlier cases are to appear in court soon, police spokesmen said.
Cape Argus