Over half a million people have been arrested for various crimes since May last year when Operation Shanela was implemented.
Speaking in Pretoria on Sunday on the Police Take Down Successes of Police Counter Operations, Police Minister Bheki Cele said police on the ground were pushing back on crime through high-density operations in identified high-crime areas across the country through Operation Shanela.
“Over 500000 suspected criminals have been removed from society and brought before the courts to answer for their alleged crimes.”
“Officers in all nine provinces, led by the respective provincial commissioners, have conducted almost 69468 high-density crime prevention and combating operations in the last 11 months,” he said.
The countrywide high-density operations resulted in the arrest of 8563 suspected rapists and 6045 murder suspects.
“A total of 4410 suspects have been arrested for attempted murder. Police officers have arrested 63573 assault GBH [grievous bodily harm] suspects and 37333 suspects accused of common assault.”
“A total of 41191 suspects have been arrested for the Contravention of the Immigration Act and were found to be in the country illegally, while 16073 drunk drivers were taken off our roads and arrested through various roadblocks and stop-and-searches during simultaneous countrywide operation,” said Cele.
He said 2819 illegal miners involved in illicit mining were arrested.
“Under operation ‘Vala umgodi’, a multidisciplinary operation involving various government departments such as the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) and the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy, 3298 illegal miners were arrested.”
Cele said 1028 hijacking suspects were arrested over the past 11 months and 3670 suspects were nabbed and faced business burglary charges, while a further 10743 suspects were arrested for breaking and entering into houses.
“Working jointly with local, provincial and national traffic police and other sister departments, the focus of Operation Shanela remains the prevention of crime,” added Cele.
