Pretoria - Operation Fiela -- the nationwide campaign aimed at ridding the country of illegal weapons, drug dens, prostitution rings and other illegal activities -- continues to yield positive results in the Free State.
A total of 1 626 people have been arrested during joint operations that were conducted in all the policing clusters in the Free State since the beginning of October.
The suspects were arrested for crimes ranging from murder, attempted murder, aggravated robbery, house robbery, business robbery, carjacking, rape, assault, robbery with a weapon other than a firearm, drug related crimes, driving under the influence of alcohol, illegal possession of a firearm as well as undocumented persons.
During the operation, police confiscated 12 firearms, 78 ammunitions, 201 dangerous weapons such as knives, recovered 14 stolen and 2 539 items of counterfeit goods and about 140kg of dagga as well as other drugs such as ecstasy, nyaope and mandrax tablets.
The sting also saw a total of 1 773 fines issued for offences in terms of the Traffic Act and Municipal bylaws.
“We will continue to rid our communities of criminal activities to ensure that our province remains the safest in the country,” said the Provincial Commissioner of the Free State, Lieutenant General Thabethe Mpembe. - SAnews.gov.za
