Tshwane police sweep nets 356 arrests, including three wanted for murder
Operation Shanela II in Mamelodi and Boschkop also detained 29 undocumented foreign nationals for immigration processing and shut four liquor outlets for non-compliance.
Police in Tshwane arrested 356 people in a single operation across the Mamelodi and Boschkop policing precincts, the bulk of them suspects who had been wanted on outstanding cases.
The operation, run under the banner of Operation Shanela II and the SAPS Safer Festive Season programme, was carried out on Saturday, 31 October. It brought together detectives, visible policing units and other law enforcement partners.
Most of the arrests came from tracing work that began on Friday evening, when Tshwane District detectives moved to locate suspects wanted in connection with a range of criminal offences. That effort produced 254 arrests of wanted suspects.
Among them were three people wanted for murder, six for attempted murder, 33 for assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm, five for rape and 91 in connection with gender-based violence offences.
A further 29 undocumented foreign nationals were detained on immigration-related offences and handed over to immigration officials for processing.
Liquor compliance formed a second strand of the operation. Teams inspected 13 establishments and closed four of them, issuing fines for non-compliance with the Liquor Act. Officers confiscated 351 410 millilitres of alcohol and a gambling machine during the inspections.
On the roads, six motorists were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol. Police searched 420 people and 69 vehicles at roadblocks, stop-and-search points and patrols in identified crime hotspots.
Eleven people were arrested for drinking in public. One person was arrested for possession of drugs after a ziplock bag containing a mandrax tablet was found in his possession.
The Tshwane District Commissioner, Major General Samuel Thine, commended the SAPS members and participating law enforcement partners involved in the operation.
The police statement did not say when those arrested were due to appear in court or give any further detail on the individual cases behind the tracing arrests.
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