In Mpumalanga, police seized illicit cigarettes worth R2.5m during a disruptive operation in Hazyview. Three suspects were arrested and charged, said Mathe.
Furthermore, 23 suspected car hijackers were arrested while 58 illegal miners were also apprehended.
During this week’s operations, police confiscated 154 firearms, including 26 handguns in Gauteng, 25 in the Western Cape and 24 in KwaZulu-Natal. Additionally, 4,266 rounds of ammunition were seized, while 69 hijacked and stolen vehicles were recovered.
Athlenda Mathe said three suspects, including two farmers, were arrested for shooting and killing two women on a farm in Limpopo. The bodies of the women were found in a pigsty on the farm.
Mathe said an intelligence-driven operation led to the foiling of a planned kidnapping in Melrose Arch, Johannesburg.
“Five suspects, including two South Africans, two Ugandans, and a Malawian, have been arrested and charged with conspiracy to kidnap and extortion,” she said.
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Koena Mashale
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