Operation Fiela nabs 1120 in a week
Gauteng police have arrested more than 1 000 criminals in a single week.
|||Johannesburg - Gauteng police have arrested more than 1 000 suspected criminals in a single week.
The swoop is part of Operation Fiela, which involves large numbers of police officers targeting criminal hot spots across the country, including the notorious Cape Flats in the Western Cape.
Others were apprehended through routine patrols and police investigations.
Last week, 1 120 suspects were arrested on suspicion of committing a range of crimes in several parts of Joburg, including in Alexandra, Carltonville, Germiston, Krugersdorp, the CBD, Soweto and Vereeniging.
Provincial police spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Lungelo Dlamini said these included murder, attempted murder, theft, fraud, possession of suspected stolen property, possession of unlicensed firearms, housebreaking and theft, robbery, assault with grievous bodily harm, drunken driving and other offences related to contravention of the Liquor Act.
Through the operation, several items including rifles, handguns, explosives, stolen goods and dagga worth more than R10 000, were also seized.
“These operations are conducted jointly by all law enforcement agencies,” said Dlamini.
Suspected illegal immigrants formed part of the group that were arrested, but they were later released when their immigration status was verified.
But hundreds more who were believed to have illegally occupied dilapidated buildings in the Joburg CBD were not as lucky and were arrested on Friday during the raid.
This operation was one of many successful ones in recent months as police clamp down on criminal activity.
Last month, 1 364 people were arrested in the Pretoria CBD, while in July, about 1 139 others were arrested in parts of Joburg.
The police also closed eight illegal shebeens and confiscated 353 illegal DVDs and drugs, including cocaine and cat.
President Jacob Zuma authorised the assignment of about 338 soldiers to Operation Fiela in April in a bid to curb xenophobic flare-ups in parts of the country at the time.
The large contingent of soldiers and police officers then swept through several buildings in the Joburg CBD, including the Central Methodist Church.
A man’s decomposing body was just one of the gruesome discoveries they made at the time during which scores of foreign nationals, who did not have the sufficient documentation to be in the country, or could not produce the documentation, were arrested.
The contingent also swept through hostels, including those in Alexandra and Soweto, and arrested several suspects there.
karishma.dipa@inl.co.za
The Star