Over 9,000 arrested in KwaZulu-Natal Province during police operations in June

During the month of June, a total of 9,416 individuals were arrested in KwaZulu-Natal during police operations. These arrests stem from crime combatting operations carried out across all 11 districts within the province and includes arrests made during High Density Operations (Operation Shanela).

Police officers arrested 2,809 for contact crimes, which included 189 for murder, 142 for attempted murder, 226 for robberies, 187 for rape and 1864 for assaults. During June, 477 were arrested for property crimes such as burglaries and theft. During the same month 1387 were arrested for drug related crime, 472 for driving under the influence of alcohol and 118 for illegal possession of firearms and ammunition. For the same period, police charged 75 for kidnapping, 157 for transgression of the domestic violence act and 803 for liquor related offences.

During these operations Police officers seized 1630kgs of drugs which included cannabis, cocaine, crystal meth, heroin, mandrax and ecstasy. Police also seized 645 dangerous weapons such as knives and pangas. The province wide clampdown resulted in the recovery of 268 firearm, of which 242 were pistols and 2731 rounds of ammunition. With alcohol being one of the major contributors to crime, 33 407 litres of alcohol was seized as police closed in on illegal liquor outlets. Police operations also resulted in 195 stolen and robbed vehicles being recovered.

Provincial Commissioner, Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi has commended police officers for their unwavering devotion in ensuring that criminals are kept behind bars and called on communities to continue to work with local police and community crime fighting structures. We appeal to anyone with information related to criminal activities to contact Crime Stop on 08600 10111 or report criminality anonymously via the MySAPS App.