City enforcement agencies had a hand in recovering at least 10 firearms in the past week – five incidents happened in the space of 24 hours this past weekend. However, it was CCTV operators who got the week off to an impressive start, detecting two incidents in Athlone on the same day. Read more below:
It was a blue Monday the 13th for three suspects in Athlone last week.
At approximately 07:00, a CCTV operator spotted two persons near the canal in Bokmakierie – one brandishing a firearm.
Metro Police officers responded and recovered an illegal firearm. They also detained two suspects, aged 20 and 23 at Athlone SAPS.
On the same day, in the same area, a CCTV operator spotted a group of males – one of them in possession of a firearm. SAPS responded to that incident, apprehended a 43-year-old suspect and recovered an illegal firearm.
The following afternoon, Metro Police officers on patrol near the shooting range along Military Road in the CBD came across an abandoned box in the bushes, containing 85 rounds of ammunition for various calibre weapons.
Their Law Enforcement counterparts recovered eight firearms in the last week, resulting in seven arrests.
Three of the firearms were recovered in Hanover Park, two in Gugulethu, and one each in Khayelitsha, Fish Hoek and Mitchell’s Plain.
LEAP officers also arrested a suspect for the possession of 13 rounds of ammunition in Elsies River on Wednesday, 15 January.
‘These confiscations are bittersweet. While it shows, once more, the benefits of our continued investment in technology, as well as visible and responsive policing, it is a stark reminder of how deeply rooted gun violence is in our city. The near daily confiscations should not be discounted, because it potentially means fewer lives lost, but until firearm supply chains are dismantled, it feels like a case of two steps forward, three steps back.
‘I have called on SAPS to institute shutdowns of gang areas, which the City will support with as many resources as possible, so that we can make meaningful dents in the firearm and narcotics trades in these communities,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, Alderman JP Smith.
In general enforcement efforts over the past week, City agencies made 289 arrests and issued at least 55 208 fines for traffic and by-law transgressions.
Law enforcement officers made 211 arrests.
On Sunday, 19 January, at around lunchtime, the Law Enforcement Department received information about a vehicle transporting crayfish tails. Officers located the vehicle and followed it to an address in Macassar. They then activated the Khayelitsha SAPS Tactical Response Unit, who conducted a search and confiscated 876 crayfish tails and 57 crayfish. One suspect was arrested and detained at Macassar police station.
Metro Police officers made 44 arrests and issued 3 108 fines for traffic and by-law transgressions.
Cape Town Traffic Officers made 34 arrests, including 19 for driving under the influence of alcohol, six for reckless and negligent driving and nine for other offences. They also executed 1 866 warrants, impounded 239 public transport vehicles and recorded 52 100 transgressions.
The Public Emergency Communication Centre recorded 1 656 incidents, including 94 fires, 69 assault cases, 206 noise complaints, 22 complaints of drinking in public, 51 domestic violence cases and 53 motor vehicle and pedestrian accidents.
