Nine wanted suspects, others arrested during a multidisciplinary operation in Free State

A multidisciplinary crime fighting operation under the police’s umbrella; Operation Shanela II, conducted in Odendaalsrus and Welkom yielded in arrests of nine suspects on the wanted list for serious crimes. In addition, other 19 arrestees regard offences including possession of drugs and dangerous weapons and liquor related offences.

The crime crackdown was conducted on Friday, 4 July, in the respective two towns in the Goldfields region. It was a collaboration involving various public-private stakeholders in the province.

They include the Free State Gambling, Liquor and Tourism Authority (Fsglta), the following departments: Home Affairs (Dha), Economic Development and Tourism (Destea), Safety, Roads and Transport, Environmental health, South African Revenue Services (Sars), Customs division of Sars, Eskom and private security as well as the Lejweleputswa District Municipality.

 Brig. Envor Solomon led the high-density operation. The police had brought on board specialised units: Visible policing, Public Order Policing (POP), K9, District Operations Command Centre (DOCC), Detectives, Anti-Gang Unit (AGU), Crime Intelligence (CI), Vehicle Crime Investigation Unit (VCIU), Airwing and the Community Police Forum (CPF). The crime fighting strategies implemented on the day included the tracing of wanted suspects, vehicle check points (VCP), stop and searches for illegal firearms and drugs, illegal immigration, business compliance checks, unroadworthy vehicles and high visibility patrols.

This saw two persons arrested for illegal immigration, four suspects for possession of drugs and three for dangerous weapons. Ten arrestees were for liquor related offences, and one for contravention of municipality bylaws. The police said eight vehicles were impounded and 29 traffic fines were issued for traffic offence.

The police stressed that it remains steadfast in their commitment to create and maintain safer communities and strengthen their collaboration with other law enforcement agencies to ensure maximum safety.