Police recover firearms, ammunition

At least 78 unlicensed firearms of various calibres and 102 rounds of ammunition were recovered during stop-and-search, crime combatting and suspect tracing efforts by the police along with following up on tip-offs received from the community over the past week.

In one of these efforts, police arrested four people in the Kameeldrift area after they were found in possession of three unlicensed firearms and a vehicle reported hijacked along with another which was taken from a house robbery.

“A team consisting of the highway patrol unit, Tracker Connect and the Hawks launched an operation to search for the suspects. The suspects’ vehicle, a Mazda CX-5 with four suspects was stopped in Kameeldrift,” police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Mavela Masondo said.

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“Upon searching the car and occupants, police found three unlicensed firearms while preliminary investigation revealed that the car was reportedly hijacked.”

Masondo said further investigations led to a Chevrolet Cruze which was reportedly taken during a house robbery.

“All four suspects were arrested for possession of unlicensed firearms, possession of hijacked vehicle and possession of a stolen vehicle,” he said.

He further said their crime intelligence was able to establish that the gang was allegedly involved in other vehicle hijackings and house robberies in the Pretoria area.

Four other unlicensed firearms have been recovered and four more suspects arrested after a botched armed robbery in Cosmo City, Honeydew.

“Police received information about suspects that were planning to rob a chain store in Cosmo City. Information was operationalised by police and the Honeydew reaction team spotted a vehicle that matched the description given,” Masondo said.

“They pounced on the vehicle and found two suspects with two firearms. Police then proceeded to a safe house and two more suspects were arrested after they were found with two unlicensed firearms.”

In another incident, police were said to have recovered three firearms as they pursued a lone suspect who was believed to be behind the killing of people in the Bekkersdal and West Rand areas recently.

“Information was received about the whereabouts of the suspect and a search operation consisting of members from crime intelligence, West Rand K9 and highway patrol was launched. They proceeded to Leratong Taxi Rank in Kagiso where the suspect was located,” Masondo said.

The suspect tried to escape towards an open veld after seeing the police and a chase ensued.

“The suspect fired shots towards the police whilst running, but he dropped the firearm on the ground,” he said.

Following a search of the suspect’s premises, two more unlicensed firearms were said to have been recovered.

Additional firearms recovered during operations in the province have since been sent for ballistic testing at the Forensic Science Laboratory to establish whether or not they had been used in any other crimes.

Meanwhile, provincial police commissioner Lieutenant-General Elias Mawela said he was pleased with how police were dealing with the proliferation of illegal firearms in the province.

“These firearms are used to commit serious and violent crimes in our province and I am happy that our members are working hard to recover them.

“I believe that we have saved the lives of innocent people that would have been killed by criminals using these firearms. Ballistic test results will help us link these suspects to other crimes committed in our province,” Mawela said.

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