JOHANNESBURG South African police have intensified a crackdown on criminals ahead of the 2010 Fifa World Cup, arresting more than 500 suspects, among them Zimbabweans.In a telephone interview the South African police spokesperson for Limpopo Province, Captain Mashudu Malelo, said they had deployed police officers along the N1 and other major highways where roadblocks have been mounted.
“We have embarked on massive operation in which we are mainly targeting criminals and as I speak we have arrested more than 500 suspects some of them Zimbabweans and Mozambicans for various crimes that include illegal possession of firearms,” he said.
The suspects where arrested during an operation code named “Operation Pinch.”
Capt Malelo said they were working closely with that country’s Department of Home Affairs.
“We realise that some of the criminals find their way into South African using fraudulently acquired travel documents and therefore the Department of Home Affairs is assisting us in detecting such documents,” said the police spokesperson.
At Beitbridge Border Post, South African police have also intensified the fight against crime where they are targeting border jumpers and criminals operating in bushy areas along the Limpopo River.
The criminals commonly known as gumagumas waylay smugglers and border jumpers using undesignated entry points along the crocodile-infested river.
The criminals operate as organized syndicates and a number of unsuspecting border jumpers continue to fall prey.
Post published in: Uncategorized