Thousands of people have been arrested in KwaZulu-Natal in February for various crimes as police in the province have embarked on a number of multidisciplinary operations targeting individual crimes on specific days of the week.

Police operations have been conducted in all districts across the province and will be continuing as long as crime remains a problem in neighbourhoods. 

During the period from February 1 until February 28, the police in KwaZulu-Natal arrested 8 628 people. A total of 2 681 arrests were made for contact crimes.

The contact crimes arrests include 139 arrests for murder, 261 for robberies, 209 for rape, 1 780 for assaults as well as 108 for trio crimes (carjacking, house robbery and business robbery). A total of 352 arrests were made for property crimes, such as burglary, theft of vehicles and stock theft.

Provincial police spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Nqobile Gwala, said the police used various operations to conduct the arrests, including road blocks, stop and searches, raids on drug dens and liquor outlets as well as suspect raids.

“Dangerous weapons, large quantities of drugs, liquor and counterfeit goods were seized by the police during these operations. A total of 1 839 suspects were arrested for drug-related offences and 716 were arrested for liquor-related offences during this period, while 443 suspects were arrested for driving while under the influence of liquor. Police seized 273 illegal firearms with 3 269 various rounds of ammunition in operations during the same period. All firearms seized will be subjected to ballistic testing to determine if they were used in any other crime,” she added.

The increased involvement of communities in community police forums and other legal crime fighting groups is most welcome as vigilance is key to breaking the back of crime syndicates.

“During this period, many criminal groups were intercepted by police and security companies as they were prowling the streets with the intention of committing crimes. We also urge citizens to continue providing tip-offs to police on criminal activities by contacting your local police stations as well as Crime Stop on 08600-10111 or by reporting via the MYSAPS app,” she concluded.