The Kagiso police were out in full force again recently when they removed illegal miners from Rietvallei.
Kagiso police spokesperson Captain Solomon Sibiya said in a statement they had removed illegal miners who have chosen to defy orders by police and local authorities to stop their illegal-mining activities.
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The operation comprised of local crime-prevention police, National Public Order Policing, the National Intervention Unit, mounted unit, infrastructure unit, West Rand K9 and Sibanye Stillwater. During the operation 31 illegal miners were arrested.
The operation not only focused on arrests but also on shutting down shafts and holes from which the foreign law transgressors were operating using a TLB and a truck to load illegal mining equipment,” explained Captain Sibiya.
The illegal mining equipment that was confiscated included 23 phendukas, 59 bags of soil, gas bottles, cutting torches, water pumps, shovels, electric cords, electric motors, steel balls and three giant generators.
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“Such operations will be sustainable and intensified until we are satisfied that these perpetrators are no more in existence – no matter how long this will take, we won’t rest,” said the Kagiso police acting station commander Colonel Peter Mabuso.
