POLICE and other law officials conducted a roadblock in Protea Glen, policing precinct, Impala Road Soweto, on Saturday evening, 4 November.
The Gauteng Provincial Commissioner, Lieutenant General Elias Mawela, led the roadblock joined by senior management of SAPS and other law enforcement agencies as the multidisciplinary Operation Shanela proceeded in Soweto.
General Mawela told Daily Sun that the Protea policing precinct is one of the crime hotspot areas in the province, especially in Soweto since the township is growing.
"We have a problem with carjackings and house robberies in this area. The house robberies mainly happen in newly developed houses, and the carjacking normally happens on Impala Road," he said.
"We have decided to come and have our roadblock here to deal with those who have stolen vehicles or conveying stolen properties and so forth."
He added that the area has Protea South, an informal settlement clustered by undocumented persons.
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"We also have different robberies taking place, but we have teams deployed in the area. We have achieved very good results, which we started yesterday with our detectives arresting 690 known and wanted suspects,” Mawela added.
During the roadblock in Protea, police arrested 25 undocumented persons, 12 people found driving under the influence of alcohol, five shebeens closed, and two people arrested for possession of a huge amount of dagga.
Speaking on the issue of ATM bombings that are taking place in the province, Mawela said criminals keep on changing the way they operate.
“When the criminals see that we strengthen and mitigate other threats by putting measures in place to make their operations difficult, they move to the softer target," he said.
“We have observed that they are moving to the softer targets, which is mainly the ATM bombings at the garages."
He encouraged residents to call SAPS when they see people moving a huge amount of money, including stained money.
