The Provincial Commissioner of the South African Police Service in Limpopo, Lieutenant General Nneke Ledwaba has once more hailed the exceptional service rendered by the operational members during various operations that were conducted across the province over the past week up until this morning.
A total number of 170 suspects aged between 23 and 60 were apprehended for various offences. During these operations, several items including firearms, ammunition, vehicles and dagga were seized.
The operations were manned through road blocks, stop and searches, raiding of unlicensed businesses and tracing of wanted suspects.
The arrested suspects are facing serious charges such as murder, illegal hunting, possession of unlicensed firearms and ammunition, burglary at residential premises, theft out of motor vehicle, assault GBH, fraud, Driving under the influence of alcohol, possession of suspected stolen property, possession of house breaking equipment and public violence. Other charges includes indecent behaviour, assault common, theft, illegal immigration Act, RTA, drinking in public and possession of dagga.
In Lephalale, three suspected illegal hunters aged 33, 46 and 47 were on 2019-04-26, arrested by members of the stock theft unit with the assistance from station members for possession of unlicensed firearms and ammunition.
In the same cluster around Tom Burke policing area, five suspects aged between 15 and 25 were successfully traced and arrested after they were positively linked to a house breaking incident that occurred at Sefihlogo village. During the arrest, police recovered an unlicensed firearm, a magazine and six (06) live rounds of ammunition.
The three men were arrested after police acted on information about a suspicious black BMW X5 driving towards the direction of Lephalale. The vehicle was spotted parked at Marapong complex at about 16h50. The suspects tried to evade arrest but were cornered and arrested on the spot. During the arrest Police recovered a hunting rifle, silencer wrapped in a black plastic bag and ammunition.
Meanwhile in the Giyani Cluster, police in Lulekeni cracked another poaching syndicate when three suspects aged between 30 and 43 were on 21 April 2019 at about 14h00, arrested during a joint operation conducted by the Tactical Response Team (TRT) and the Provincial Task Team.
The members followed information about the whereabouts of the wanted suspect’s at Matiko Xikaya village outside Phalaborwa and they were arrested in their hideout. During the arrest, the police managed to seize one R5 rifle, silencer, ammunition, an exe and a bakkie.
In another incident, Makhado Police have on Friday 2019-04-26, managed to recover a hijacked vehicle after receiving a tip-off from members of the community. Members from the station together with the Cluster Response Team followed this information about unknown number of suspects planning to commit business robbery in Nzhelele area. The police spotted a vehicle matching a description of the one on the lookout and gave a chase until the vehicle was found abondened at Makushu area. The suspects had already fled on foot. Police searched the vehicle and recovered two firearms. This follows an incident that occurred on 227 April 2019 at about 20h30, where the driver of this vehicle was attacked by four suspects at gun point who were driving in a Ford Fiesta along N1 Road and hijacked his vehicle. The suspects then took the direction of Madombidzha.
All the arrested suspects will appear before different magistrate courts soon.
More than hundred suspects nabbed for various offences during separate operations in Limpopohttps://t.co/GKXuqRh22H #ArriveAlive #Operations @SAPoliceService pic.twitter.com/fvbZuljVQs
— Arrive Alive (@_ArriveAlive) April 29, 2019