OVER 150 illegal immigrants were arrested during the overnight Operation Fiela in Kempton Park CBD.
The operation, which started on Tuesday night and lasted until the early hours of Wednesday morning, mainly focused on West Street and Pretoria Road.
Police spokesperson, Capt Jethro Mtshali, confirmed the campaign was a joint operation between Kempton SAPS, the SA Military, Department of Home Affairs, public order police, the National Intelligence Unit, technical response team, flying squad and dog unit.
“All in all, 155 illegal immigrants were arrested. Ten boxes of alleged illicit sachets of whiskey were confiscated and two premises were raided,” Mtshali explained.
At one of the premises, gadgets such as iPads and cellphones were confiscated. Four other places were searched for drugs but none were found.
News of the operation was all over social media on Tuesday night, with several Twitter account holders posting about police and the military being seen all over the CBD.
Operation fiela now in kempton park,is gonna be a long night for the criminals and the illegals.
— J.M.Gwangwa (@joey72_86484) June 30, 2015
One Twitter user even mentioned that police were targeting and harassing foreigners:
@702JohnRobbie Hie John there was 'operation fiela' in Kempton Park last night why are police harrassing targeting foreigners mostly?
— Tom Nyathi (@tomnoblar) July 1, 2015
Operation Fiela was started as a crime prevention initiative and was launched by President Jacob Zuma, following the recent surge in xenophobic attacks in the country.
So far, operations have been reported in areas such as Ottery, Cape Town and Gauteng. Police said they’d arrested more than 500 suspects over the past weekend alone.
The campaign has already seen negative feedback from the public, with outcries from human rights organisations.
Just last week Tuesday (June 23), the North Gauteng High Court heard arguments from the independent human rights establishment, Lawyers for Human Rights, against the campaign.
According to the human rights organisation’s website, they argue that “the way in which this operation (Operation Fiela) has been conducted in people’s homes is unlawful and unconstitutional to the extent that they were carried out without proper compliance with the need for warrants, under a deliberate misapplication of the South African Police Service Act and at night in a manner which resembled an immigration clampdown that appeared to target foreign nationals under the auspices of a crime clean up”.
The case was since struck off the roll, with the court ruling that it wasn’t urgent.
