Tshwane police arrest 83 offenders during Easter weekend

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Pretoria - Tshwane Metro Police say they had arrested 83 offenders for various offences during the Easter weekend.

Tshwane Metro Police Chief Commissioner Mpho Mmutle said on Wednesday that through the city's comprehensive safety plan for the Easter weekend, a total of 83 arrests were made.

He said two people were arrested for armed robberies, two for assault, two for housebreaking, nine for theft and two for theft of motor vehicles.

"Five people were also arrested for the possession of stolen weapons, one person was arrested for bribery while five people were arrested for gambling in public," he said.

The police also arrested one person for illegal liquor trading, one for drinking in public, six for drunken driving, two for rape and three for possession of stolen property. Arrests were also made for public violence and reckless driving among others.

Chief Commissioner Mmutle further said investigations into the cause of the accident on the N1 last Thursday, in which three people lost their lives, will continue.

"We cannot say exactly when it will be completed largely because of the extent and scale of that accident," said Chief Commissioner Mmutle.

The accident involved a cement truck colliding with at least 20 cars between the Rigel and Atterbury off-ramps during the early hours of Thursday morning.

Due to the accident, motorists were advised to use the R21 and R101 roads as alternatives because the clean-up operations.