Guns are being taken off the streets of Gauteng as SAPS has recovered unlicensed firearms and ammunition in circulation.
According to SAPS spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Mavela Masondo, over a period of two weeks starting in late September and ending yesterday, police, in partnership with other law enforcement agencies and relevant stakeholders, arrested over 90 suspects and recovered over 230 unlicensed firearms and 3600 rounds of ammunition during operations, routine crime prevention patrols, stop-and-searches as well as through community tip-offs across the province.
“Members of Crime Intelligence and Benoni Flying Squad operationalised information and arrested seven suspects in Cloverdene on Saturday, 8 October 2022. The team also recovered explosives, an unlicensed firearm and ammunition.
In addition, members of SAPS Temba followed up on information which led them to recover an abandoned AK47 assault rifle and ammunition in the bushes of Stinkwater, north of Tshwane District on the same day,” said Masondo.
He further detailed, in a statement, that on Friday, 7 October, the Booysens Magistrate’s Court sentenced Mduduzi Shabalala, aged 44, to 25 years imprisonment for house robbery and possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition.
“Shabalala and two accomplices had robbed an 80-year-old victim in his house in Ridgeway just over two years ago. The trio fled the scene, but police swiftly responded to the house robbery complaint and apprehended Shabalala, who was armed with an unlicensed firearm and ammunition at the time of his arrest,” he said.
Masondo said that all the firearms would be subjected to ballistic tests to determine whether they could be linked to other serious crimes committed.