Police took to the streets of Windsor on 18 February to raid and shut down illegal shebeens.
Hillbrow Cluster Commander Major-General Dimakatso Ndaba and Linden Station Commander Colonel Balaraman Govindasamy with members from different units closed down Best Buys Liquor Store in Windsor East for non-compliance, meaning that their liquor licence to sell alcohol or operate was invalid or had expired. About 122 400 litres of beer, a fridge and 134 empty beer bottles were seized in Windsor East during police operation.
Police raided most of the liquor outlets in and around the Linden precinct, checking if they had valid licences according to the Gauteng Liquor Regulations Act.
A popular pub in Malanshof Sunrise Pub, which has previously had drug arrests made on the premises, was also raided and it turned out they were complying with the Liquor Regulation. “Many arrests have been made at Sunrise Pub since 2012, but there has not been anything out of the ordinary recently,” said Linden Police corporate communications officer Constable Carol Mulamu.
Notices in terms of J534, a fine register for all bylaws in the province, were issued to the non-compliant outlets and a fine of R1500 is expected to be paid at the police station soon.
During the operation, police found two zip-lock bags full of dagga abandoned on Dukes Avenue in Windsor with an estimated street value of R2 000, no arrests were made for them.
Both Maj-Genl Ndaba and Col Govindasamy commended the members for an outstanding job – well done for the operation’s successes. “This is the first of many raids that will be conducted in the area,” said Maj-Genl Ndaba. By targeting all the non-compliance outlets, police will bring Windsor to peace and other contact crimes in the area will drop due to the fact that substance abuse is one of the root causes of contact crime. The police said they will keep on doing these kind of operations until the community complies and that shutting down illegal shebeens is one of their priorities. Const Mulamu said, “We would like to applaud community members who are working together with the police in fighting against crime.”
