Local Task Team detectives made a huge recovery of unlicensed firearms and ammunition during a raid in the early hours of last Tuesday morning.
Twelve firearms, including six shotguns and six nine-millimetre pistols, and a total of 53 live rounds of ammunition, were recovered.
The Detectives Cluster Task Team, together with members of the Provincial Crime Intelligence Unit, conducted an operation at 4am in the Dundee area.
They were following up on a tip-off received that unlicensed firearms were kept in a house in Karellandman Street.
The house was previously used as an office for a security company.
The team searched the house and found the twelve firearms and 53 rounds of ammunition.
A 36-year-old man was arrested and charged with possession of unlicensed firearms, ammunitions and contravention of the new Firearm Control Act. Jabu Sithole appeared in the Dundee Magistrates’ Court on September 11.
All recovered firearms will be sent for ballistic tests to establish if they were used in the commission of any crimes.
It is believed that the owner of the firearms was the owner of a security company, who recently passed away.
His son did not apply for a licence to possess the firearms, but instead kept them. An intensive investigation is continuing. KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Commissioner, Lieutenant General Mmamonnye Ngobeni, commended the members of the Dundee Cluster Task Team and Provincial Crime Intelligence Unit for the arrest and recovery.
She urged family members of deceased firearm-owners to not keep the firearms but to hand them over at the nearest police station. Members designated to deal with firearms will assist them as to what to do with a firearm, namely whether to apply for a competency certificate and a licence to possess it, or for the firearm to be destroyed.
“Every firearm taken out of circulation decreases the chances of an innocent person getting robbed, wounded or killed.
“This shows that members do not hesitate to go the extra mile or risk their lives in their efforts to obtain sufficient information and ensure that criminals are brought to book,” she said.