Another successful Operation Shanela in Sandton
Captain Jeff Phora explains why people only find out about Operation Shanela in the 11th hour.
Many motorists making their way along Woodmead and Maxwell Drives on August 22 were searched, either by JMPD or Sandton SAPS’s Operation Shanela teams, searching for illegalities.
As always, media only became alerted to an Operation Shanela in Sandton at the 11th hour.
ALSO READp: Police foil robbery plot in Sandton
Johannesburg district police spokesperson Captain Jeff Phora reported that Shanela had lead to the arrest of a number of undocumented persons, and a handful of people were arrested for harboring them illegally.
“We’ve arrested 40 illegal immigrants, whom we are busy processing at the station, and we’ve arrested four more suspects for employment of illegal immigrants for harboring and employing undocumented persons,” Phora said. “All processing takes place at the station. In terms of how many people we fit into a bakkie, usually it’s at our discretion. We won’t compromise their health, and stuff like that. We try to maintain normal volume of suspects per truck.”
Phora emphasised that the secrecy about when and where Shanela will be is to ensure an element of surprise in the field.
“Look, there are people who divulge information pertaining to our operations, which leads to non-fruitful operations,” Phora explained.
ALSO READ: Police arrest Buccleuch resident for assault
Outlining the protocol involved in the conducting of Shanela’s phases, Phora shared details relating to the units involved in Shanela.
“You’ll find a group dealing with liquor-related crimes, and outlets which don’t comply, those without licenses, and those that are illegal, a group which deals with our roadblocks, where we do our stop-and-searches, and then there’s a roving unit which does what we call high-density visibility operations, wherethrough we stop and search vehicles.”
In conclusion, Phora shared an emergent crime trend that Sandton SAPS members are consistently dealing with, as well as other officers across Johannesburg.
“There are people who run illegal shabeens, and illegal night clubs,” said Phora. “We have quite a number of nightclubs mushrooming in our district, not just only in Sandton. It’s a problem that we have, but we are swiftly dealing with it weekly – especially during Shanela.
“We visit them, and make sure that they comply,” Phora concluded. “If there’s non-compliance, we shut them down, we confiscate the liquor; sometimes, we even take away refridgerators so that they are no longer able to operate illegally anymore.”
JMPD also erected roadblocks in Woodmead, running concurrently with Operation Shanela.
Superintendent Xolani Fihla was contacted on August 22 for more information, but hadn’t responded at time of going to print.
Related articles: Road vandals are being dealt with for their crimes
Follow us on our Facebook, X, Instagram and TikTok pages. Join our WhatsApp group for any story ideas you may have.
