Operation Shanela nets more than 900 suspects in the Free State

Operation Shanela has nabbed 967 suspects in the Free State last week.

Police in the province say 50 suspects were arrested for possession of drugs, with nine being arrested for rape, four for murder and 14 for attempted murder, while 28 were arrested for possession of dangerous weapons.

Twenty-one suspects were arrested for property crimes; 45 were arrested for malicious damage to property and 107 were arrested for assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

In Virginia, on 26 June 2024, members of Crime Intelligence provided information on two suspected vehicles seen around petrol garages.

Three suspects were arrested after an illegal firearm was found in the vehicle in which they were driving. The second vehicle, a VW Golf, was traced and found with three occupants, and a firearm was also found and confiscated.

In another incident, a vehicle was traced and stopped. All three males found in the vehicle were also arrested after a 9mm firearm was found and confiscated.

In Rouxville, one foreign national was arrested after his bakkie was stopped at a roadblock and while the police were searching the vehicle, they found boxes of illicit cigarettes worth an estimated R12 million.

In Springfontein, two males, aged 23 and 25, were arrested after they were stopped by highway patrol on the N1 and dagga worth an estimated R1.7 million was found in the back of their bakkie.

In Batho, an illegal foreign national was arrested after he was found with an unlicensed firearm. This is after police received information that the suspect might have been part of a group that robbed a tuckshop.

Detective tracing operations, as part of Operation Shanela, saw more than 215 suspects, who did not have the legal documents to be in South Africa, being taken to Home Affairs for further handling.

Thirty-three people were arrested for driving under the influence, while 253 drivers were fined for contravention of the Traffic Act.

Operations are continuing throughout the province and community members are urged to continue providing information on crimes taking place, and to work with police to identify possible suspects.