The South African Police Services Has Reported That It Had Made Over 600,000 Arrests Since Operation Shanela Began.

On Monday, the South African Police Services disclosed that since the commencement of Operation Shanela, over 600,000 arrests have been made.

It gave the media a briefing on Operation Shanela’s accomplishments throughout the previous 12 months.

To combat crime in high-density regions, Operation Shanela was started in May of last year.

To far, SAPS members have carried out approximately 71 thousand operations.

Over 49,000 explosives were collected, according to Major General Mashadi Selepe, and 89,000 rounds of live fire were found over the course of operations.

“You can see that there were a total of 616 423 arrests made. To offer you an overview of a handful of those, we have 3 418 arrests under the guns violation.

“We also found 228,488 abalone, and we had over 1,792 in total for alcoholic drinks.

Selepe reported that over R5 million in cash had been taken into custody and that over 17,000 persons had been arrested for operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

“We had 2,323 motor vehicle thefts, and there were 183 arrests for human trafficking overall.”

Simultaneously, Police Minister Bheki Cele praised community members for collaborating with law enforcement to reduce criminal activity.

“The importance of engaged public involvement in deterring and preventing crime is only growing.

“Community Policing Forum, community patrollers and private security have been very active in the support and are playing a crucial role in the overall success of Operation Shanela,” he stated.