A 33-year-old alleged gang leader was arrested in Ravensmead for the possession of unlicensed firearms and ammunition.
According to the police, during Operation Lockdown 3, an R5 rifle, a shotgun, three pistols, more than 160 rounds of ammunition, and several magazines were seized.
Illegal firearms
According to Lt Col Amanda van Wyk, four out of the five illegal firearms’ serial numbers were filed off. “The team operationalised intelligence on the suspect, who allegedly controlled the gang’s firearms. The team proceeded to the identified address, where the suspect led them to a cache of firearms and ammunition concealed near a block of flats in Ravensmead. All seized firearms will be subjected to ballistic testing to determine whether they were used in the commission of other serious and violent crimes,” says Van Wyk.
In the meantime, the City of Cape Town’s Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has called on the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to oppose bail for drug dealers harming local communities. This follows the mayor exposing an example of a dealer back on the streets just days after City police arrested him in Woodlands, Mitchells Plain.
Mayor Hill-Lewis has called on the NPA to instruct its prosecutors to oppose bail for drug dealers in gang-impacted communities on the Cape Flats. “I’ve written to the Regional Director of Public Prosecutions to raise my concern at the state’s routine failure to oppose bail for drug dealers fuelling gang crime on the Cape Flats. Our call is for prosecutors to be instructed to oppose bail for drug dealers in each case. Prosecutors should amplify the voice of communities when calling on magistrates to deny bail for those who are preying on our youth, our schools, and neighbourhoods,” says Hill-Lewis.
According to him selling tik to children can never be a crime where bail is simply not opposed by the prosecutor. “Denial of bail, and continued incarceration while awaiting trial, will promote community safety and send a strong message that the state takes drug-dealing offences seriously,” said Mayor Hill-Lewis.
Mayor’s call
The Mayor’s call follows the City’s Metro Police arresting a suspect in possession of 30 packets of tik in Mitchells Plain on 9 April, only for the suspect to be granted R3 000 bail after-hours by the standby prosecutor, without a hearing by a magistrate or any opposition from the police or the NPA. “During one of my recent ride-alongs with metro police, I witnessed our officers arrest a dealer with a bag of tik in Woodlands, Mitchells Plain. Returning a few days later, I was shocked to see the dealer already back on the streets. This is a person with prior charges of murder, assault and drug possession, who is preying constantly on young people and is a danger to the community, and yet the police and NPA did not oppose bail. This is a shocking outcome and we will be back again and again until a person like this is behind bars,” he said.
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