Police efforts of making sure firearms don't end up in the wrong hands are yielding results in KwaZulu-Natal.
The South African Police Service (SAPS) in KZN recovered 287 firearms, 13 of which were rifles, as well as 5 825 rounds of ammunition during various operations during the month of February, which also resulted in the arrest of 11 007 suspects for different categories of crime.
“Firearms remain the weapon of choice that criminals use in the commission of murder, attempted murder and armed robbery crimes,” the SAPS said in a statement.
During the operations, 151 suspects were arrested for cases of murder, 159 were arrested for attempted murder and 217 were nabbed for robberies such as robbery with aggravating circumstances, carjacking, cash-in-transit robbery, house and business robberies.
“The detectives were also hard at work and a total of 217 suspects were arrested for rape, 37 were arrested for sexual assault and 2 547 suspects were arrested for assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and assault common,” the police said.
On property related crimes, 439 suspects were nabbed for cases such as burglaries at residential and business premises, stock theft, as well as theft of and theft out of motor vehicles.
A total of 626 dangerous weapons, inclusive of 562 knives, 12 axes and 20 machetes were removed from society and a total of 163 suspects were arrested in the process.
A total of 569 undocumented foreign nationals were also arrested for contravention of the Immigration Act.
A total of 1 107 people were arrested for liquor related crimes such as drinking and being drunk in a public places, illegal dealing and distribution of liquor and illegal macro manufacturing of liquor.
During the operations, police also recovered 34 cattle, 46 goats, 33 sheep and four horses. – SAnews.gov.za
