Over the past weekend 1 592 police members attached to the National Head Office took to the streets of Gauteng and North West under the instruction and command of National Police Commissioner General Bheki Cele in “Operation Squeeze”.
Operations started at 22h00 on Friday night 18 March 2011 in the North West province, were also conducted in Gauteng on Saturday, 19 March and ended at 06h00 this morning, Monday, 21 March 2011 in the North West.
1 592 head office members were deployed in various precincts in Gauteng and 477 in the North West. We worked with our counterparts in the various policing clusters.
General Cele decided on this deployment while visiting senior officers in all provinces as he is of the opinion that senior SAPS managers should be in touch with the communities they serve and should have a hands-on approach to the fight against crime.
On Saturday morning 19 March 2011, the National Commissioner personally witnessed the destruction of 4 822 firearms which had been seized in the North West Province during police operations, which had been used in the commission of offences or which had been surrendered to the SAPS. The destruction took place in Benoni, Gauteng where the firearms were crushed into scrap metal which means that they have been permanently removed from circulation. During 2010 the SAPS destroyed 151 287 firearms countrywide.
The SAPS has been literally working 24/7 in order to eliminate the backlog in terms of firearms licences. We have made great strides in this regard and since November 2010 we have finalized 405 00 firearm application in terms of backlogs.
One of the various projects under Operation Squeeze was “Operation Letsema”, specifically focused on tracking down wanted criminals. This project resulted in our police officials tracing a total of 3 900 wanted suspects in less than 48 hours. Over 4 284 cases were solved during Operation Letsema and it was discovered that of the 3 900 traced, 453 of those were either already in custody or deceased. Similar operations will be launched to catch up with wanted criminals, that is those persons for whom a warrant of arrest has been issued. Any person who knows that they have outstanding criminal matters are warned to hand themselves over to the police because we will catch up with them.
Members of Interpol, within the South African Police Service, also notched up a significant success under Operation Squeeze.
On Saturday evening 19 March 2011 Mr Guy Jonathan Hill, 47 years of age, was arrested at the O R Tambo International Airport by members of Interpol as he entered the country from Miami, Florida, from where he had been deported.
Hill was wanted in South Africa for four cases of fraud allegedly committed in the Knysna/George areas to the value of over R3 million. He fled South Africa approximately 18 months ago. While in the United States he was arrested in Miami while living on a boat for being in possession of stolen goods, for which he was sentenced to a year’s imprisonment.
After serving eight months of the sentence he was handed over to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency which detained him for a further four months before deporting him back to South Africa. Hill is presently in custody in George where he will stand trial for fraud.
The main focus of Operation Squeeze over the past weekend was crime prevention, targeting illegal liquor outlets, drug dens and illegal firearms as well as building and reinforcing relationships between the police and the community and between various policing units.
We regard the operation as a success, especially in terms of maintaining a high visible police presence in identified areas in the two provinces. Similar operations will be repeated by members of Head Office, who enjoyed making an operational contribution to crime fighting, and in all provinces.
The successes in terms of arrests, seizures and fines issued are still being collated and verified at the National Joint Operation Centre (NATJOC) and will be made known within the week.
“I would like to thank the 1 592 Head Office members who reported for duty with such enthusiasm over a long weekend”, said General Bheki Cele. “it was indeed a privilege and honour to stand side by side with my members – some of them lawyers, accountants and forensic analysts – and to interact with the communities with them. We will keep this up and intensify our efforts so that all South Africans can be, and feel, safe”, he concluded.
Brigadier Sally de Beer
Cell: 082 779 8658
Captain Dennis Adriao
Cell: 082 828 5773
E-mail:mediacentre@saps.org.za
Source: South African Police Service
