On Thursday (6/7), National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola, whilst in Vanderbijlpark in the Emfuleni Local Municipality, oversaw the process as 15 700 guns were destroyed.

According to the National Police spokesperson, Athlenda Mathe, SAPS has permanently removed  54 517 firearms from circulation since April 2022 through a firearms destruction process.

"All firearms that were destroyed today had been subjected to ballistic testing to determine if they had been utilised in any commission of a crime. The SAPS confirms that all firearms have been cleared."

Mathe said through Operation Shanela, police have to date recovered and/or confiscated close to 800 firearms since the inception of these high-density operations.

"The SAPS will continue to intensify operations to detect and remove illegal firearms and ammunition from the streets of South Africa, as they pose a threat to the safety and security of the inhabitants of this country," Mathe added.

Meanwhile, more than 1200 suspects were arrested on operations held throughout the Free State province recently.

The provincial police spokesperson,  Mahlomola Kareli, said the multi-disciplinary operations held from 18 June 2023 to 2 July 2023 were to address prevalent crimes such as possession of Illicit firearms, murders, rapes, car and truck hijackings, robberies, and cash-in-transit robberies.

The operation also included the tracing of wanted suspects, gender-based violence and femicide, damage to infrastructure, and stock theft.

"More than 4 820 vehicles and 10 000 people were searched. 46 people were arrested for having dangerous weapons, 8 were arrested for possession of unlicensed firearms and live ammunition, 18 for dealing in drugs, 267 for assaults, 17 for aggravating robberies, 62 for burglaries, 3 for car hijacking, 7 for rape, 3 for murder, 7 for attempted murder, 62 for burglaries, and 38 for driving while under the influence. In total, 85 illegal immigrants were arrested."

402 wanted suspects were arrested after warrants for their arrests were issued, related to different crimes whilst other arrests were made during police compliance visits at second-hand goods stores and scrapyards.

Kareli said the traffic officials issued fines where drivers were found to be in contravention of the Traffic Act.

"Drugs such as nyaope, crystal meth, and Mandrax were also confiscated. Two stolen vehicles were recovered and the suspects were arrested.  Increased rural safety operations were conducted where farm patrols were intensified and stop-and-search operations were conducted on suspicious vehicles and persons. 

Such operations will continue throughout the province with multiple roadblocks, stop-and-searches, as well as increased police visibility at hot spots.  This is to ensure that Free Staters and visitors in our province are and feel safe during their stay in the province," Kareli added.

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