THE severity of drug abuse in the Western Cape came under the spotlight recently with the arrest of 791 people in the province for possession of drugs.

According to the South African Police Services (SAPS) this number represents more than half the people (1412) who were arrested for drug possession countrywide.

Through its high-density operations known as Operation Shanela, SAPS said its members arrested a total of12 251 suspects during the period between 27 January and 02 February 2025.

“Through Operation Shanela, the SAPS continues to take a bold and decisive approach in dealing with crime in the country,” SAPS said in a statement on Monday, 3 February 2025. 

Crime fighting activities include tracking operations, roadblocks, high visibility patrols, stop and searches and tracing of wanted suspects.

All Shanela operations are led by the Provincial Commissioner of each province.

The following arrests were made during the period:

•  2 095 suspects who were wanted for violent crimes such as murder, attempted murder, rape, business and house robberies, were arrested.

In addition:

•  135 suspects were arrested for murder, the majority in Gauteng (47), followed by Eastern Cape (36).
•  120 suspects were arrested for attempted murder.
•  218 suspects were arrested for rape, again KwaZulu-Natal arrested majority of these suspects with 80 arrests.
• 1 546 suspects were arrested for assault GBH.
•  170 drug dealers were arrested.
•  1 412 suspects were arrested for being in possession of drugs, majority of these suspects were arrested in the Western Cape (791)
•  86 suspects were arrested for being in position of illegal firearms, majority of these suspects were arrested in KZN (26) and Western Cape (26)
•  1 065 illegal foreign nationals were also arrested during this period
•  352 drivers were arrested for drunken driving in the past week, the majority of arrests coming in Western Cape (96)

A total of 112 firearms and 1 076 rounds of ammunition were confiscated during the operations, while 43 hijacked and stolen vehicles were recovered.

During this period SAPS seized more than 70 000 counterfeit items valued at over R90 million and arrested 37 suspects of various nationalities during multiple takedown operations, conducted in Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal throughout January 2025. – SAnews.gov.za