The Provincial Commissioner of police in Limpopo Lieutenant General Thembi Hadebe has on Friday briefed media on the successes achieved since the launch of Safer Festive Season Operations in the beginning of October 2022 until January 2023.
In her reflection on the journey travelled by men and women in blue during this period, Hadebe said 26806 suspects were arrested for various crimes.
These crimes include murder, robbery, rapes, assaults, vehicle hijacking, unlawful possession of firearms, dealing with drugs, non compliance with liquor act regulations and contravention of illegal immigration among others.
The arrests include 202 suspects for murder, 303 for rape and sexual assault, 4559 for Contravention of Immigration Act.
In addition 103 vehicles that were reported stolen were recovered and police made 1192 arrests for dealing with drugs such as heroine, crystal math, kat and nyaope, to the street value of R5 079000, while llegal shebeens totalling 513 were closed down.
“These arrests demonstrate our commitment to delivering service excellence to every part of our community.
We also pride ourselves with our dedicated and skilled officers who value their work, many of whom are selflessly committed to serve the community.
The successes showed a significant increase in the number of arrests for these crimes” ,said Hadebe.
She added that Vhembe district was leading in the province with domestic violence cases and policing areas such as Gilead in the Waterberg District and Lebowakgomo in Capricorn experienced a high number stocktheft cases.