As Operation Safer Festive Season kicks off, the Johannesburg West Cluster have arrested more than a hundred suspects so far.
On 23 November officers from the cluster, in conjunction with other law-enforcement agencies namely, Gautrain traffic officers and Johannesburg Metro police conducted a roadblock on the N14 road in order to address the importance of a safer festive season.
Captain Makgowanyana Maja of the Randburg Police Station said the purpose of the roadblock was to search for illegal firearms, stolen properties and to deal with road users who transgress road safety. “More than 600 hundred people were searched,” he said.
He explained the owners of the vehicles which had faults like cracked windscreens, faulty lights, and smooth tyres, as well as those who did not wear safety belts were issued with the traffic fines.
“At the same time, more members were deployed in the malls to make sure that shoppers are safer and feel free to do their shopping spree on a Black Friday.”
Maja said through all operations which were held at the weekend in the Johannesburg West Cluster stations, namely Randburg, Linden, Douglasdale, Florida, Honeydew, Diepsloot and Roodepoort, more than hundred suspects were arrested.
According to Maja, among the arrested suspects were those who selling liquor without licenses and their business was closed down due to being contributors to assault and rape cases.
“Other suspects were arrested for violation of protection orders, child abuse, assault under the Domestic Violence Act, contempt of court, common robberies, possession of stolen cables, and possession of suspected stolen motor vehicle and recoveries of three hijacked motor vehicles to name a few.”
All the suspects are expected to appear in the different courts in the Johannesburg West Cluster immediately after they are formally charged.
Maja pleaded to the community to assist the South African Police Service in fighting fraud, corruption, unethical behaviour or any other suspicious activities that could be detrimental to their success by phoning the Crime Stop Line on 086 001 0111.
