LIMPOPO – Operational strategies by police in the province keep bearing fruitful results through intelligent led joint operations which were up and running in all clusters till this morning, 30 July, says police spokesperson, Col Moatshe Ngoepe.
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1238 suspects, between the ages of 19 and 68-years-old were arrested for different crimes, ranging from murder, attempted murder, rape, armed robbery, burglary, business robbery, escaping from lawful custody, theft of motor vehicle to possession of dagga, drugs and suspected stolen properties.
Among those arrested included four suspects who were arrested in the Burgersfort Cluster for attempted fraud at a local bank in the Burgersfort CBD.
Ngoepe says an intelligence led joint operation was conducted by detectives and members of crime intelligence, who followed information about the suspects having fraudulent identity documents with the signatories of a business bank account with millions of Rands.
“Suspects then tried to access the money by linking the account with a fraudulent bank card via internet banking but were arrested during a transaction which was in progress inside the bank. Their Polo GTI was also confiscated,” he said.
A roundup of other arrests made include:
– Two suspects were apprehended in the Mookgophong policing area for a spate of robberies and were linked to more than 30 cases, including carjacking incidents.
– A 65-year-old man was arrested in the Thohoyandou cluster for possession of an unlicensed firearm which was allegedly stolen on 18 July 2018 in the Mazwimba village during a truck accident. In addition, a group of five suspects were arrested for separate incidents of robbery and burglary.
– Two suspects were arrested in the Mahwelereng Cluster for theft of live stock following the recovery of four stolen goats which were already sold at a local auction place in Mokopane.
– Four suspects were arrested in the Seshego policing area for a business and residential burglary. The stolen property was recovered at a second hands goods shop in Polokwane.
Meanwhile, in the Mahwelereng cluster, an 18-year-old suspect was arrested in possession of a Guerrilla 9mm airgun pistol which resembled a real firearm. His arrest was made during Operations “Cease fire ” and “Zonke 3” which comprised of members of Crime Intellince and the K9 Unit in the Mokopane area.
“During a search around the house, 100 sachets of nyaope and 84 sachets of dagga were recovered. The second suspect was traced in the area and found in possession of 23 sachets of nyaope and nine white packets of the drug ‘rock’, Ngoepe explained.
He added that these simultaneous operations were conducted in the form of patrols, roadblocks, tracing of wanted suspects, among others.
The following items were recovered during these operations :
– Five 9mm pistols
– Two toy guns
– One Guerrilla 9mm air gun
– One 375 Rifle
– 26 rounds of live ammunition
– Two magazines
– Two hair clipper machines to the value of R800
– Seven motor vehicles
– Nine cellphones
– One panga, two crowbars, airtime vouchers and cigarettes to the value of R8 000
– 594 kg of dagga
– 503 sachets of dagga
– 1288 grams of drugs.
– 10 dagga plants
– 1 458 kg of dagga.
– 224 sachets of nyaope
– Nine sachets of Rock
– Two laptops
– Four side cutters
Ngoepe says some of the arrested suspects have already appeared before various Magistrates Courts across the province and others will still appear.
