VANDERBIJLPARK – The South African Police Services has permanently removed 54 517 firearms from circulation on Mzansi streets.

On Thursday, July 6, police destructed over 15 700 of these firearms which were either seized during crime prevention operations, voluntarily surrendered, or forfeited to the State in Vanderbijlpark, Gauteng.

The process to destruct the firearms was overseen by the National Police Commissioner, General Fannie Masemola.

According to Masemola, their focus is to remove illegal firearms which enter the country through porous borders, are stolen during house robberies, or are negligently left in vehicles by their legal owners.

Addressing a media briefing in Vanderbijlpark police station, Masemola said all firearms that were destroyed had been subjected to Ballistic testing to determine if they had been utilized in any commission of a crime.

“We will be heading to a separate facility where we will be destroying over 15 000 firearms. Since we took over the office in April 2022, a total of 54 517 firearms have been confiscated and destroyed,” he said.

“This firearm destruction process is a measure that has been put in place by the management of the SAPS, to ensure that firearms that are confiscated and recovered during operations, are permanently removed from society.

“With this said, we call upon legal firearm owners to be extra vigilant and take extra measures to safeguard their firearms, to avoid them landing up in the wrong hands,” he said.

Meanwhile, through Operation Shanela, police have to date recovered and/or confiscated close to 800 firearms since the inception of these high density operations.

The SAPS will continue to intensify operations to detect and remove illegal firearms and ammunition from the streets of South Africa, as they pose a threat to the safety and security of the inhabitants of this country.