A newly-formed Tshwane metro police task team has vowed to crack down on criminal activities in Jukulyn, in Soshanguve township.
Tshwane metro police spokesperson Senior Superintendent Isaac Mahamba said the task team unit would keep an eye on crime hot spots in the Jukulyn area.
During one of the team’s regular patrols this week, members nabbed four suspects for being in possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition.
The suspects were stopped while driving a suspicious VW Polo with four occupants, three males and one female.
Mahamba said: “They were searched but nothing was found on them. When the vehicle was searched, the task team members found a 9mm firearm with ammunition that no one could account for. The serial numbers on the firearm were scraped off.”
He said the TMPD would continue to fight the scourge of crime in Tshwane and no stone would be left unturned.
“Operations aimed at eliminating the elements of crime are conducted in all areas of Tshwane,”he said.
In January this year, Jukulyn was in the news after four people, among them a 14-year girl, were gunned down on New Year’s Day in what was suspected to be a drug-related shooting.
In May, the Gauteng government hosted a crime imbizo in the area to introduce a crime-busting initiative by the Tshwane metro police, crime prevention wardens and Gauteng provincial community safety patrollers.
The initiative, according to then Gauteng Community Safety MEC Faith Mazibuko, included a panic button app and the installation of CCTV cameras in the area.
It was said that at least 10 security companies would work in tandem with law enforcement units to ensure a quick response to panic button alerts.
Two years ago, former DA Tshwane deputy caucus chairperson Sandy Khathutshelo Mbuvha expressed concerns that children as young as 12 in Jukulyn were being recruited to join crime syndicates.
It was said at the time that the recruits were trained on how to use firearms for robberies and other acts of criminality.
The crime syndicates and gangs were said to be ambushing unsuspecting victims from abandoned RDP houses.
In May, former police minister General Bheki Cele unveiled additional policing units to be part of the SAPS stabilisation team deployed to enhance policing in townships beset by violent crime in the Tshwane district.
“These units are deployed to counter and combat crime, as well as to enforce the law in and around the Soshanguve, Rietgat , Loate and Mabopane areas,” Cele said.
Pretoria News