“Whether they are in the river, or in the valley, or in the mountains we will hunt them down, and I know for sure that they will feel the heat,” said Gauteng Police Commissioner Tommy Mthombeni as he briefed Tshwane Talks about the police’s success regarding the latest Operation Shanela crime prevention spree which the SAPS embarked upon in Mamelodi over the weekend.
Commissioner Mthombeni said the aforesaid statement is a warning to criminals in Mamelodi to stop what they are doing.
“We are here in Mamelodi to make sure that we focus on the two policing precincts namely Mamelodi West Police station and Mamelodi East police station as there are numerous cases of murder, attempted murder, assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm, burglary, car hijackings, business robberies, house robberies and gender-based violence which have been reported at these two stations,” he said.
He explained that the crime prevention spree started on Friday and several roadblocks were set up in terms of Operation Shanela, whereby 786 wanted suspects were arrested.
He added that 50 people were arrested for drunken driving and 54 were nabbed for being illegal immigrants.
Mthombeni also cautioned residents against being over-excited when under the influence of alcohol as this leads to criminal activities.
“We managed to shut down 15 illegal shebeens and we are also looking at preventing crime at known crime hotspots,” he said.
He revealed that the weekend’s Operation Shanela crime prevention initiative was a simultaneous operation taking place all over the province of Gauteng.
With reference to curbing the activities of criminal gang Boko Haram in Mamelodi, Mthombeni said the following:
“After receiving complaints about Boko Haram, we registered a project that would deal specifically with the gang and put together an integrated work force comprising crime intelligence and organised crime investigation units, and ultimately managed to deal with the gang,” he said.
Mthombeni said a specific number of targets which were not less than six were “identified and dealt with” accordingly in 2021, including the infamous, so-called John Wick character who was fatally shot and killed along the highway between Bronkhorspruit and Mamelodi.
“Extortionists are broad-based in Mamelodi, including those who are involved in stopping waste removal trucks from doing their job and we are proud to announce that two suspects have been arrested in this regard and appeared in court on 12 September this year,” said Mthombeni.
He said in terms of Boko Haram bandits, the original leader of the gang, who is famous in Mamelodi, has been arrested and is now sitting in jail.
Mthombeni pointed out that of late there are individuals who are using the same modus operandi that was used by the original Boko Haram leader to extort money from local businesses and foreign-owned spaza shops.
He said there is also the issue of hijacking of flats as well as water tanker projects in Mamelodi.
He said 35 targets have now been identified regarding the above-mentioned crimes and that he was happy to be working with the community of Mamelodi to stop these criminal activities.
“Crime affects everyone and it is encouraging that the community is working with the SAPS to root out crime in this township,” said Commissioner Mthombeni.
“I am happy to see cops on the ground working and i pray they nail the criminals,” said Koketso Matlala.
“I wish the cops could do this every weekend and now Mamelodi is clean, and criminals are hiding and run away and we thanked cops for this good work, and they must keep it up,” said Peter Maluleka.