According to the national Hawks spokesperson, Katlego Mogale, Minister Bheki Cele will visit the crime scene where 24 firearms were seized and 20 suspects were arrested following a sting operation at a mine shaft in Stilfontein. 

ALSO READ: Gun-wielding suspects arrested in North West

This is Cele’s second visit to the province following President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Imbizo earlier this year, where issues of crime, including illegal mining, drug peddling, robbery, rape, and murder, among others, were raised by irate residents. His visit will also put the illegal mining activities in the spotlight with residents having complained and raised concerns about the said crime, not only in Stilfontein but in other surrounding areas too, including Orkney near Kanana in the Matlosana Local Municipality.

ALSO READ: Cele embarks on crime prevention imbizo in North West

In October 2021, there was a shoot-out incident between the police and illegal miners in the area of Orkney in the Matlosana area, where over 80 miners were arrested by the police.

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“The management of the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI), led by the Minister of Police, General Bheki Cele, will visit the crime scene where 24 firearms were seized and 20 suspects were arrested following a takedown operation at a mining shaft in Stilfontein. The National Commissioner of the SAPS, General Fannie Masemola, and the National Head of the DPCI, Lieutenant General (Dr/Adv) Godfrey Lebeya, and the Provincial Commissioner of the North West, Lieutenant General Sello Kwena, will form part of the delegation,” Mogale says.

Mogale says more suspects involved in the illegal mining activities in the North West could be arrested soon following the arrest of 20 gun-wielding suspects and the seizure of over 15 guns and boxes of ammunition in Stilfontein, near Khuma outside Klerksdorp.

ALSO READ - Illegal mining: More arrests possible in North West

She says the operation is ongoing and the police cannot rule out the possibility of more arrests and more seizures. During the raid and arrests, more items, including explosives and an undisclosed amount of money, were seized by the police. Mogale says the 20 suspects are expected to make their first appearance before the Stilfontein Magistrate's Court on Wednesday 12 October 2022.

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