Cape Town drone unit tracks five smash-and-grab suspects in Elsies River arrests

Five people have been arrested over a series of smash-and-grab incidents in Elsies River, in an operation that saw a Cape Town law enforcement drone stay on a fleeing suspect and talk ground officers onto him by radio.

The arrests followed an intelligence-led operation by the City of Cape Town’s law enforcement and metro police departments, working with the South African Police Service. Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis shared video of the drone’s role.

According to the city, intelligence teams went through available data and reviewed CCTV footage from the incidents over the preceding weeks to identify and profile the suspects. Investigators secured warrants of arrest, and SAPS launched a coordinated joint operation with the city’s departments.

During the operation the city’s drone team supplied live aerial surveillance, which let officers on the ground follow where the suspects were moving. When one suspect ran, the drone held him in view and directed the pursuit, which lasted about 20 minutes, by radio communications to his location. All five suspects were arrested.

What the drone unit is for

Cape Town has been testing drones in various applications for more than a decade, and stood up its dedicated drone unit on 1 April 2026. In the financial year that ended on 30 June 2026 the city logged 1,000 drone flights, and it is aiming for 3,000 in the year to 30 June 2027, a threefold increase.

The Western Cape SAPS air wing division flew 238 drone flights in its 2024/25 financial year. The city sent 12 new pilots for drone operation training in July 2026, having previously had only two qualified operators.

Other authorities in the province are using the technology too, among them the Cape Winelands, Overberg, Garden Route and West Coast District municipalities. Beyond crime work, the aircraft are used in search-and-rescue and in operations considered too high-risk for people on the ground. Some models can carry attachments, including floating buoys deployed at sea to prevent drownings.

Mayoral committee member for safety and security Alderman JP Smith commended the city and the police for the operation. He said he had met the local improvement district, business owners and operational staff in March 2026 about the smash-and-grab problem in the area, and that after joining a second metro police patrol he raised the matter with his senior management because he did not feel a substantive solution was coming.

Smith said the outcome showed the value of intelligence-driven policing, cooperation between agencies, and technology in supporting crime prevention and the apprehension of suspects.

The powers argument

The City of Cape Town has pointed to its record with the technology as a further reason for policing powers to move closer to the ground. Along with the Western Cape government, the metro is launching a fresh court challenge over the devolution of specific SAPS powers to provincial and municipal law enforcement.

Hill-Lewis filed an intergovernmental dispute with the acting national police minister in early August 2026, specifically over granting metros the authority to conduct criminal investigations. Smith said this week’s operation underlined why local government should receive additional policing powers.

For residents of Elsies River and the surrounding areas, the immediate effect is that five people accused of a run of street robberies are now in custody and will face court, and that the city’s ability to run operations of this kind depends on how many pilots and aircraft it can put in the air. The 3,000-flight target, the training of 12 new operators and the outcome of the dispute over investigative powers are the next points on which that will be judged.

The city has not said when the five will appear in court, and the intergovernmental dispute with the national police ministry is unresolved.

Source: MyBroadband, Video shows drone help catch smash-and-grab thief in Cape Town