Police operation puts ‘heat’ on criminals

TRI-LATERAL, cross-border police operations between the Northern Cape, Western Cape and Eastern Cape have yielded positive results and left criminals “feeling the heat”.

Police spokesperson, Captain Olebogeng Tawana, said yesterday that “criminals felt the heat after their criminal activities were dismantled” during the cross-border operation, which took place last week.

He added that the operation was crime intelligence-driven and a multi-disciplinary crime prevention operation, in which the focus was to simultaneously clamp down on criminal activities in three bordering provinces - the Western Cape, Eastern Cape and Northern Cape.

Officials from the Department of Home Affairs as well as provincial and municipal traffic officers also formed part of the operation.

“During the operation we enforced a zero tolerance approach against crime by conducting simultaneous roadblocks on the national and secondary roads which connect the three provinces. Our main focus was to search for illegal goods, including drugs, stolen vehicles, tracing of wanted suspects and visiting secondhand goods dealers and liquor outlets,” Tawana said.

He added that the operation yielded several positive results across all three provinces.

Traffic fines to the value of more than R100 000 were issued to motorists for contravention of the Road Traffic Act, while drugs seized included crystal meth, dagga and mandrax tablets and 28 suspects from the list of wanted suspects were arrested. Illicit cigarettes with an estimated street value of R200 000 were seized, counterfeit goods with an estimated street value of R80 000 were confiscated, one suspect was arrested for bribing a police officer with R10 000, several undocumented persons were arrested while two vehicle were seized at roadblocks.

“One vehicle was cloned and the other vehicle’s engine number and chassis marks were tampered with. The suspects were arrested,” Tawana said.

Those arrested are expected to appear in courts across the Western Cape, Eastern Cape and Northern Cape.