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By ANA Reporter 
5h ago
CAPE TOWN – With integrated police deployments in full effect in anticipation of the New Year and holiday activities, the Western Cape Police have recorded fewer criminal incidents and significant successes since Thursday night with Covid’s level three shutdown regulations. -19 in force, the South African Police Service (SAPS) in the province said Sunday.
A total of 2,915 fines were issued for violation of Disaster Management Act regulations, and the majority of violations (2,185) for breach of the 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew, the Western Cape SAPS spokesperson said, Brigadier Novela Potelwa, in a statement.
Twenty-nine illegal shebeens were shut down with 32 arrests for illegally selling, dispensing and distributing liquor. A total of 11,000 liters of alcohol were confiscated during police operations over the weekend, Potelwa said.
Thirteen firearms and 100 cartridges were also seized in different areas of the province.
In Cape Town, Belhar SAPS officers followed up on Friday January 1 reporting on firearms at a home on Extension 13 in Belhar. Upon searching the facility, they discovered three unlicensed firearms.
Two suspects, aged 62 and 48, were subsequently arrested. The area where the discovery was made was known for gang fighting. The suspects would appear in court Monday on charges of illegal possession of firearms, Potelwa said.
In the Range area on the Elsies River in Cape Town on Friday night, officers responding to sporadic shooting incidents seized a firearm, ammunition, cash and a variety of drugs, including Mandrax tablets and tik ( crystal methamphetanin).
A 32-year-old suspect was arrested for possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition and drug trafficking. During the arrest, “the police were stoned,” resulting in an officer being injured.
A variety of large quantities of drugs, including Mandrax tablets, crystalline methamphetamine and dagga, were also seized in various operations, Potelwa said.
A vehicle checkpoint held in the early hours of Sunday morning in Laingsburg in the Karoo led to the discovery of 70 kg of bagged dagga found in a minibus taxi bound for Cape Town. A 27-year-old passenger from Belhar in Cape Town was arrested. He would appear in court on Monday.
Police officers were also deployed to the beaches along the Garden Route, Overberg, West Coast and Cape Town to ensure compliance with Covid-19 level three restrictions. While most of the beaches were deserted, there were some offenders who were later “treated.”
During compliance inspections at Overberg’s beaches on Friday, police “removed and fined” 15 people from three beaches in Pringle Bay, Onrus and Castle Beach. Fines of R15,000 were issued, Potelwa said.
Compliance inspections by law enforcement agencies in the areas also focused on minibus taxi stands, spaza stores, other businesses, shopping malls, funerals and other public spaces.
Police activities, including road blocks, raids, vehicle checkpoints, compliance inspections and targeted operations, were also part of the Safer Holiday Season program, which was to continue until the end of the Christmas season in a effort to ensure that “everyone is and feels safe.”
Western Cape SAPS management had thanked most of the people for heeding the call to observe level three regulations and uphold the rule of law, Potelwa said.
ANA
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