WATCH: CPF and Police evict zama zamas

It is alleged house robbers run into the open mines to hide.

Sector 9 CPF members and Krugersdorp police officers searching for illegal miners in Mindalore.

Officers from the Krugersdorp Police Station and the Members of the Sector 9 Community Protection Forum (CPF) recently proved that it is possible for two crime-fighting parties to work hand in hand to combat crime in West Rand, Krugersdorp News reports.

In an effort to combat illegal mining in Mindalore, the CPF and the police launched a collaborative search and arrest day in an abandoned mine.

“One of the biggest problems is the open mine between Mindalore and Lewisham where a mining company used to mine for gold,” said Pierre Pretorius, spokesperson for the Sector 9 CPF.

“The mine was abandoned and since then illegal miners come to the area to dig up ground. If there are any house robberies in the area, the perpetrators usually run into the open mine area and hide. A while back, we noticed an influx of illegal miners in the area and needed to intervene immediately. We also noticed that the illegal miners wander around between the houses that are situated around the mine during the early hours of the morning.”

Sector 9 CPF members and Krugersdorp police officers searching the area for illegal miners.

Attie Els, Chairman of Sector 9’s CPF contacted Captain Gumede, a member of the Krugersdorp Police, to ask his help with combating these illegal miners. They arranged that 10 CPF members and 10 policemen would meet each other at the mine to evict and arrest the miners.

The group went to the mine and upon arrival found a large group of men mining in a waterhole on the premises. As soon as the group’s bakkies stopped, the miners fled into the dense bush around the mine. The police and CPF worked together and apprehended four of the illegal miners.

“This is just the beginning of our fight against the illegal miners. We will launch more similar operations in the future. This will help with our effort to combat crime in Sector 9.”

Since it was quite an exercise to chase the illegal miners on foot, by the time they apprehended the suspects, everyone was quite hot and sweaty.

The CPF treated the policemen by giving them each an ice lolly and enjoying their company in the shade of a tree in the area to cool off.One policeman first thanked the CPF and, then, on opening his ice lolly, said, “Ah, a fire extinguisher.”