Florida police scored a massive win on Wednesday, May 27, in their ongoing battle to rid their precinct of illegal mining.

According to Florida police’s head of social crime prevention, Constable Cisky Mashele, officers descended on the notorious mining sites along Eitemal Avenue, Poole and Nadine streets in Florida South, approaching from various positions to catch the zama zamas unawares.

The operation was led by operational commander Captain Jooste with the focus on illegal mining activities, firearms recovery, and disrupting criminal networks operating in the area.

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“The lookouts posted by zama zamas alerted them to the presence of police, and a short chase through the veld ended with zamas disappearing down the various mining holes scattered throughout the veld, but not before we managed to apprehend 49 suspects.

“A thorough search of the mining sites resulted in the seizure of three phendukas, a water pipe which was illegally connected to existing municipal infrastructure, and 128 steel mining balls,” Mashele said.

The real success on the day was achieved when police, during their search, came across a steel box filled to the brim with firearms and ammunition, and a rifle.

Police recovered 10 firearms, consisting of a rifle, an automatic assault rifle, four pistols, two revolvers and two 38-special revolvers. The stash also included over 600 rounds of ammunition.

Florida police have been significantly stepping up their fight against illegal mining syndicates in recent months, with various successes recorded.

Mashele said that last week’s illegal mining operation yielded 47 arrests.

“We are adamant that we will not allow illegal mining and criminal networks to operate and flourish within our area of operations. We will not rest until we have completely eradicated illegal mining from our area of operations.”

The operation was led by Florida police with support from their Crime Intelligence Unit, Defence Force Intelligence, the Illegal Mining Unit, members of the Florida Sector 2 CPF, Florida South Residents Association, Shaik Security, Help24 Secure and EC Security.