Picture: The police conduct a search during Operation Shanela II/Supplied
By REGINALD KANYANE
12 January 2026- The police said as the festive season winds down, the intensified police operations remain in place across the Northern Cape to ensure continued safety and stability through the execution of Operation Shanela 2 and Safer Festive Season operations. The police said senior managers both at provincial and district level, led the high density operations in collaboration with relevant stakeholders from 5 until 11 January 2026, which resulted in the arrest of 973 perpetrators.
The Northern Cape police spokesperson, Colonel Cherelle Ehlers said the police in collaboration with law enforcement agencies implemented a comprehensive crime prevention strategy, to curb crime across all five districts through intelligence-driven and targeted disruptive actions. Ehlers said actions included stop and search actions, Vehicle Check Points (VCPs), roadblocks, and high visibility patrols.
“Focus remains on road safety, especially as travellers return home after the holiday season. Road safety actions, which remain a critical focus area, led to the arrest of five perpetrators for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
“A total of 22 883 individuals and 8 883 vehicles were stopped and thoroughly searched, including the searching of numerous premises. Compliance inspections were conducted at several second-hand goods dealers and liquor premises as well as formal and informal businesses, farms and scrapyards,” she said.
Ehlers further said these inspections led to the closing of 18 unlicensed liquor premises for non-compliance violations. She added concoctions and liquor were confiscated during these actions.
“Excessive alcohol consumption remains a concern, as it often leads to the commission of contact crimes and other serious and violent crimes. Perpetrators were arrested for various crimes, including drug related offences, burglary, murder, rape, attempted murder and assault Grievous Bodily Harm (GBH).
“Detectives conducted over 20 tracing operations to track down and apprehend offenders who have been evading the law for an array of offences. During the execution of the operations, police confiscated a substantial amount of alcohol, drugs, dangerous weapons, copper cables and fireworks. This included the seizure of a consignment of mandrax tablets with an estimated value of R16.4 million on the N9 road, near Colesberg,” she said.
Ehlers said the ongoing community engagements and awareness programmes focusing on prevailing crime tendencies were held in conjunction with community policing structures and government departments. She said the police in Northern Cape will continue to conduct targeted operations across the province to restore stability and combat criminal activities in identified hotspot areas in collaboration with stakeholders and the community.
The Guardian 