Operation Shanela once again produced results in the battle against crime in the Free State, with 1051 persons detained.
Provincial police spokesperson, Captain Loraine Earle, said the goal of the campaign was to search for illegal firearms, with a focus on murder and rape cases, including newly reported crimes and the tracking down of wanted suspects.
“It also concentrated on the prevention and searching for suspects of trio crimes which include car-jacking, house robberies, house breaking, and the tracing of related trio crime wanted suspects and armed robberies,” Earle said.
“The actions include roadblocks at identified hotspot areas, Vehicle checkpoints (VCP) in identified hotspot areas, the setup of Semi-Permanent Checkpoints and tracing operations to search for wanted suspects.”
The operation was carried out in coordination with other departments, such as the home affairs; health; correctional services; and small business.
Because it is Women’s Month, the ladies in blue turned out in large numbers to help these efforts succeed.
In one of these operations, women from Verkeerdevlei worked alongside women from the home affairs department to ensure compliance with tuckshops in Tshepong, Verkeerdevlei.
Nine tuckshop proprietors have been arrested for illegal immigration, while one foreign national who owns a tuckshop employs two foreign women.
He was fined R15,000 under the Immigration Act and paid it.
“Members proceeded to a vehicle checkpoint at the Verkeerdevlei Toll Gate Plaza where vehicles and persons were searched to ensure heightened police visibility. Motorists, commuters of buses and taxis were given pamphlets with crime hints,” Earle said.
“The Mangaung and Parkweg Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Units did a tracing operation on wanted suspect. In the process, they arrested three for child neglect and for being an illegal immigrant, three for rape, three suspects for sexual assault and two for child neglect, child abuse and assault common.”
In two of the rape cases, the suspects were wanted, and they were successfully tracked down and arrested. A total of 353 wanted suspects were successfully tracked down and arrested for their suspected crimes.
Among the 698 individuals detained, 48 were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol, 130 for being illegal immigrants, 23 for unlawful mining, 22 for malicious damage to property, 132 for assault, 64 for sale or possession of drugs, and 33 for possessing dangerous weapons.
IOL