Cape Town: The City charged the suspected battery thieves. During the busy weekend of confiscations the city enforcement services recovered backup batteries, stolen clothes, a box full of schedule 2 medicine and mandrax with a street value of more than R120,000.
As per the sources, the successes contributed to the weekly enforcement efforts, which resulted in 313 arrests and 53,614 fines were issued.
Reportedly, before 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, Feb 03, 2024, the officers attached to the Law Enforcement Metal Theft Unit conducted an operation in Elsies River. During the operation, they spotted a heavily loaded car and stopped the driver.
Officers sought permission to conduct a search and recovered two cellphone tower backup batteries from the vehicle. They received information that led them to an address where the other eleven batteries were recovered.
After the recovery of stolen things, four things were arrested and charged in terms of the Criminal Matters Amendment Act.
As per the reports, Law Enforcement officers made 210 arrests and issued 3,771 notices for various offences. Metro Police officers made 61 arrests and issued 2,466 fines for traffic and by-law transgressions.
Moreover, Cape Town Traffic Services recorded 47,377 offences, impounded 188 vehicles and executed 2,426 warrants of arrest. They also arrested 42 motorists, 38 for driving under the influence of alcohol and four for reckless and negligent driving.
From Feb 02 to Feb 04, the Public Emergency Communication Centre recorded 2,083 incidents out of which 882 were medical and 121 were related to fire.
Additionally, the staff recorded 193 incidents of assault, 55 domestic violence cases, 211 noise complaints and 68 motor vehicle and pedestrian accidents.
Member of the Mayoral Committee for Safety and Security – Alderman JP Smith said, “It’s been an impressive weekend of confiscations for our enforcement services. From backup batteries to schedule two medicine and even a shopping bag full of mandrax with an estimated street value of more than R100,000.”
He added that the joint operation with SAPS led to the arrest of a suspect on at least three murder charges and four attempted murder charges and the efforts of one of the traffic officers caught on video, securing a suspect in the middle of a busy road in peak hour traffic.
“You start gaining an appreciation of the sheer scale of the work being done on a daily basis. I want to commend our staff members for their ongoing efforts to maintain law and order, in spite of the many challenges that come with the task,” said JP Smith.