Johannesburg: The South African Police Service (SAPS) has successfully apprehended 308 wanted suspects during a series of track and tracing raids as part of the weekly planned Operation Shanela.
According to South African Government News Agency, the police detailed in a statement that the arrests include 22 individuals wanted for rape, 10 for sexual offences, seven for murder, 11 for attempted murder, and 67 for assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. These suspects are expected to appear in various courts shortly.
In addition to the targeted arrests, over 1,015 suspects were detained during high-density deployments. These operations involved multidisciplinary integrated forces executing a range of policing actions, which comprised 5,350 high visibility patrols, 13,227 stop-and-search activities, 645 licensed liquor premises inspections, 147 inspections of second-hand dealers, 56 compliance checks at scrapyards or recyclers, 76 visits to spaza shops or informal businesses, and 2,831 farm visits conducted alongside the Department of Home Affairs and the Department of Labour.
The joint task force also seized a variety of illegal substances and items, including 703 grams of tik/crystal meth, 59 mandrax tablets, 950.68 liters of alcoholic beverages, 108 packets of tobacco, and 305 kilograms of suspected stolen copper cables. The police indicated that another weekly Operation Shanela is planned to tackle areas of concern and identified crime hotspots throughout the Free State province.