Twenty-four drivers were locked up for drinking and driving, a brothel and a gambling den were shut down, drugs were confiscated and six arrests were effected for theft and shoplifting during a joint operation between the metro police and police over the weekend.
The Ses’fikile operation took place on Friday and Saturday nights on freeways and Kempton Park central business district (CBD), said Chief Supt Wilfred Kgasago, metro police spokesman.
“Stop and searches of both vehicles and pedestrians were the order of the day in Kempton Park where over three-hundred individuals and vehicles were stopped and searched in an operation aimed at crime prevention. More than fourteen taverns and clubs were visited to ensure they complied with the city by-laws and other legislation. The operation was conducted on Friday night between 6pm and midnight in Kempton Park,” Kgasago said.
Law enforcers comprised 42 metro police officers and 15 police members who divided themselves into three groups to target several hot spots focusing on drunken driving and crime prevention.
Seven night clubs were visited to check on the operating licences and were found to be compliant and playing music within the acceptable noise levels. Small amounts of dagga and nyaope were found within the clubs but no arrests were made as the drugs could not be pinned to anyone, Kgasago added.
One brothel found operating was shut down and groups of gamblers at Kempton Railway Station were chased away and their gambling tables confiscated.
Also on Friday night, the metro police’s freeway unit put up a road block on the R21 in both directions at the Voortrekker on- and off-ramps. Eleven drivers suspected of drinking and driving were nabbed.
Kempton Park precinct officers focused on drivers going through the Pretoria Road and Commissioner Street intersection where four suspected drunk drivers were arrested, Kgasago added.
On Saturday night the freeway unit apprehended 13 drivers suspected of being under the influence of intoxicating liquor on the R21 near the Voortekker Road turn-off and on the N12 at the Kraft Road turn-off.
Ses’fikile special operations shall be conducted periodically with the aim of ensuring criminality is drastically brought down and that businesses operate within the ambit of the law, Kgasago warned.
