By Mark Ogagan
South Africa National Police Commissioner, General Fannie Masemola has announced that 85 000 suspects have been arrested in the last month for various crimes ranging from murder to rape, kidnapping and extortion.
Masemola was briefing the media on Thursday morning on the countrywide operations carried out by the South African Police Service (SAPS) for the past month.
Police say it’s working hard to bring an end to extortion-related crimes but, “we are going to need the cooperation of our communities to report the crime and name and shame the perpetrators.”
He has set his sights on taking down the extortionist group operating in Mamelodi known as Boko Haram. “The crime of extortion requires a specialised investigative capacity and that is why we have deployed specialist teams led by the DPCI, Hawks, crime intelligence and organised crime units to lead these investigations.”
The National Police Commissioner has warned criminals that police will mobilise all resources to stamp the authority of the state to protect and defend communities.
319 cases related to extortion have been reported countrywide from April 2023 until August 2024 while a 151 arrests have been made.
Earlier this month, he announced that police managed to arrest 13 691 suspects nationally from 2 to 8 September during Operation Shanela activities.
Amongst those arrested, 1 953 wanted suspects were nabbed for crimes such as murder, rape, possession of illegal firearms and business robberies.
1 460 suspects were arrested for being in possession of drugs, 576 suspects were arrested for the illegal dealing in liquor, whilst 404 were arrested for drunken driving.
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