By KEDIBONE MOLAETSI
21 July 2025- More than 206 suspects were arrested during Operation Shanela II across all five districts in the Northern Cape. The police said the arrests are the reaffirmed effort to combat prevalent crimes in the province.
The Northern Cape police spokesperson, Colonel Cherelle Ehlers said they are adopting a multi-disciplinary approach led by District Commissioners, which entailed high visibility patrols, stop and search actions, roadblocks and vehicle check points. Ehlers said the suspects were arrested between 14 and 20 July 2025.
“The teams inspected numerous liquor outlets for non-compliance to ensure perpetrators face the full might of the law, this led to the closure of 26 unlicensed establishments.
“Concerted interaction with other law enforcement agencies resulted in the searching of 10 132 persons and 5 372 vehicles at vehicle check points (VCPs) and roadblocks, as well as high visibility patrols conducted across the province,” she said.
Ehlers further said Mandela Day commemoration events on 18 July 2025 were preceded by simultaneous Operation Shanela II actions across all five districts as part of the province’s coordinated crime combating strategy to address Gender-Based Violence (GBV), extortion, drug related offences, illegal firearms, contact crimes and vehicle related crimes. She added that suspects were arrested for serious crimes, including illegal possession of firearms and ammunition, illegal dealing in drugs, illegal dealing in liquor, illegal possession of drugs, murder, rape, assault with the intent to do Grievous Bodily Harm (GBH) and burglary.
“Detectives also conducted tracing operations in search of wanted suspects, who failed to make court appearances or for whom warrants of arrests were issued. Compliance inspections were conducted at numerous second-hand dealers and liquor premises as well as formal and informal businesses, farms and scrapyards.
“During the execution of the operations, police confiscated a significant amount of alcohol, drugs, dangerous weapons and firearms as well as cash believed to be the proceeds of crime,” said Ehlers.
She said various community engagements and awareness programmes were held in conjunction with community policing structures and government departments to address prevalent crime trends, namely Gender-Based Violence (GBV), youth and crime and substance abuse.
Meanwhile, the Northern Cape Police Commissioner, Lieutenant General Koliswa Otola, expressed sincere appreciation for the robust collaboration between various government departments and community structures in the successful execution of recent operations. Otola reiterated that heightened and enhanced high-density operations will continue to target crime hotspots in the identified high crime areas across the province.
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