Although more than 100 people have been arrested for substance abuse in the Pretoria CBD in the past week, police are still concerned about the rise of drug-related crimes in the city.
Pretoria Central police spokesperson Captain Augustinah Selepe said since embarking on drug-related operations, police have arrested many suspects in the past few months.
“We have beefed up manpower throughout the city and that has yielded some success. Our concern is the rise of pick-pocketing crimes and theft out of motor vehicles,” she said.
“There have been dozens of cases reported at the station and through investigation it was revealed that most of these crimes are done by people who are drug addicts.”
Selepe said the biggest challenge was arresting drug dealers.
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“The community needs to help us fight the drug kingpins who supply our children with drugs. It remains our biggest challenge but we are hopeful that we’ll get a breakthrough soon,” she said.
“The main idea of these operations is to deter criminals and improve the quality of life and personal safety of all people in the city of Tshwane so that they can feel safe and secure when walking, shopping and driving in the city.”
Selepe said although drug-related crimes were problematic, other crimes such as murder, business robbery and hijacking were decreasing.
“Thanks to our crime prevention unit, we have managed to see a decrease in crime in the city in general.”
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