Many of the firearms were used to commit crime, while others were voluntarily handed over to police. Photo: Saps/X
Police destroyed 18 000 firearms, many weapon parts and thousands of rounds of ammunition during an extensive operation in Vanderbijlpark, Gauteng, on Thursday.
Polices aid these were either forfeited to the state, voluntarily handed over, or used in the committing of crimes such as gender-based violence and femicide, or cash-in-transit armed robberies.
The operation was officiated by District Commissioner of Sedibeng, Major General Nkhensani Lemba, who was also joined by other senior police management.
“All these firearms have already been subjected to a ballistic test to determine whether they are linked to other serious crimes committed,” a police statement read.
“Saps will continue to intensify operations to detect and remove illegal firearms and ammunition from the streets of South Africa, as they pose a threat to the safety and security of the inhabitants of this country.”
Speaking to Sedibeng Ster, Lemba said police were coming for those with illegal guns.
“We are excited that today we are ending the circulation of these firearms because there won’t be a chance that they will be missing or get back into our communities,” she said.
“This is a big success, and we call on our people that if they have firearms and don’t use them, we encourage that they surrender them so we can destroy them.”
In January, police destroyed five tonnes of drugs worth an estimated R550 million in Gauteng.
The drugs were confiscated during police operations in six provinces: KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Free State, Gauteng, North West and Mpumalanga.
They included cocaine, heroin, mandrax and cannabis.
ALSO READ: Drugs worth R550m destroyed in Gauteng
Police Commissioner General Fannie Masemola oversaw this, the fifth drug destruction process in this financial year.
Spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe told The Citizen this occurred in an undisclosed location in Gauteng.
“In this financial year alone, more than one billion rand worth of drugs have been destroyed,” she said.
A week before this, the fourth drug destruction process saw drugs worth an estimated R90 million destroyed in the Western Cape.
According to the police, these drugs were confiscated during day-to-day policing operations across the country, and they included tik, cocaine and mandrax.
ALSO READ: PICS: Police destroy drugs worth R90 million in Cape Town
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