Police have arrested over 1 300 suspects during operations across Gauteng which started on Wednesday.
The majority of the suspects, about 1 169, were those who committed crimes ranging from murder to rape.
Gauteng Police Spokesperson Mavela Masondo says the rest of the suspects were nabbed for their involvement in illegal mining activities in Kagiso West of Johannesburg.
“The operations continued on Thursday morning across the province with Gauteng Provincial Commissioner Lieutenant General Mawela. Police arrested more than 190 suspects of which 108 of them were undocumented foreign nationals who are also suspected to be involved in illegal mining. Police also confiscated tools of trade for illegal mining,” says Masondo.
Provinces roll out crime fighting plans: Azaniah Mnisi
Six suspects between the ages of 33 and 41 have been arrested at Klapmuts outside Cape Town on charges of kidnapping, extortion, hijacking and human trafficking.
Police spokesperson, Joseph Swartbooi, says the suspects forcefully removed a woman with her two-year-old child from a house in Mfuleni on the Cape Flats, demanding a handsome.
He says they also allegedly kidnapped an e-hailing driver in Klapmuts.
Swartbooi says police activated an integrated operation led by various units.
“When the suspects approached a nearby bank with one of the victims at their side, under the pretenses to withdraw the ransom, the police members moved in and arrested the six males and rescued the victims. As part of the ongoing investigations into this case and other similar cases, organised crime detectives are hard at work trying to establish if the arrested suspects can be linked in any way to other crimes,” says Swaarbooi.
