6 August 2025
Police have arrested 17,054 suspects in organised crimes and high-impact offences through Operation Shanela across the country between July 27 and August 2.
The operation, which began in 2023, is aimed at eradicating crime. It consists of regular stop-and-searches, roadblocks, vehicle checkpoints, high-visibility patrols including foot patrols and the tracing of wanted suspects.
According to police spokesperson Lt-Col Vincent Mukhathi, 2,911 suspects were arrested for serious and violent crimes such as murder, attempted murder, car hijacking, rape and house and business robbery. Arrests included:
- 179 for murder;
- 266 for rape;
- 1,763 for assault GBH;
- 246 for dealing in drugs;
- 2,406 for possession of drugs; and
- 15 for human trafficking.
Confiscations and recoveries included:
- 1,805 rounds of ammunition;
- 155 firearms; and
- 53 hijacked and stolen vehicles.
Mukhathi made reference to some major arrests made in Gauteng, Free State, KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape.
In the Free State, a 42-year-old foreign national truck driver was found in possession of illicit cigarettes worth R800,000. He is expected to appear in court.
Police in KwaZulu-Natal arrested two foreign nationals and recovered R30m worth of counterfeit jewellery and luxury items, a shotgun, ammunition and cash.
In Gqeberha, police seized counterfeit pharmaceuticals and consumer goods, including unregulated tablets and pregnancy kits valued at R2.2m. A suspect linked to an extortion ring was fatally wounded in a shoot-out with tactical response team members in Ngqeleni.
“A 9mm pistol and live ammunition were recovered. His passenger was detained for questioning,” Mukhathi said.
“In Port Alfred, police disrupted a marine trafficking operation involving 822.7kg of West Coast rock lobster tails worth R1.2m. Two suspects were arrested for contravening the Marine Living Resources Act.”
Source: timeslive
