SEDIBENG. – As the Easter weekend sneaks in, Sedibeng police together with several law enforcement agencies ensured the safety of travelers on the roads.
This comes amid a massive operation that took place at the N3 Heidelberg weighbridge, drawing in hundreds of officers to tackle the illegal transportation of goods, stolen and unsafe vehicles, and undocumented foreign nationals.
With men and women in blue and brown painting the national road, the operation witnessed long vehicle queues, deploying advanced surveillance technology including drones and helicopters to monitor queues.
Gauteng traffic officers, Crime Prevention Wardens, the Department of Home Affairs, private security companies, and Community Policing Forums (CPF), converged for a comprehensive stop-and-search operation.
Both lanes of the N3 were closed to facilitate the operation leading to several successes of drinking and driving, and possession of drugs, among other offenders.
The presence of Minister of Police, Bheki Cele, together with the National Police Commissioner, General Fannie Masemola, and Sedibeng Cluster Commissioner Major General Nkhensani Lemba underscored the importance of the operation.
Addressing the media, Minister Cele explained the motivate behind the roadblock, specifically targeting the N3.
He emphasized the importance of proactive measures to ensure public safety during high-traffic periods such as the Easter weekend.
“It’s the eve of the long weekend, so we visiting our highways. This is the second point as we started on the N1 earlier today and now we are on the N3. Crime uses these highways and, on this highway, too many crimes have been conducted including the robberies by the Blue Light gang. It is important to raise our visibility and infuse the confidence of motorists,” he said.
“Criminals and criminality thrive and these highways are where crime is being conducted. We need to balance the safety of people and the flow of transport. We do check the traffic using drones to monitor the traffic,” he added.
Meanwhile, Lemba said “We want to make sure that people who are coming in and out of Gauteng using our route are safe this long weekend. This route is used for many hijacking incidents where criminals pretend to request lifts and turn to rob and hijack gullible motorists.”
Lemba said the roadblock will continue across the district to ensure a safer long weekend.
