CAPE TOWN, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Hundreds of robbery suspects have been arrested in an intensified anti-crime operation in four robbery-stricken provinces, the South African Police Services (SAPS) said on Sunday.
The Trio Crime Combating Interventions, carried out in Gauteng, Western Cape, Eastern Cape and Kwazulu-Natal provinces, has been yielding significant results, SAPS Brigadier Vishnu Naidoo said.
The operation has been put in place to intensify the prevention and investigation of house robberies, business robberies and hijackings as well as to trace and apprehend the perpetrators of these crimes.
The operation involves members from Crime Intelligence, Visible Policing, Tactical Response Team, Public Order Police, Detective Services and the Organized Crime Unit.
For the period June to August this year, the operation has led to the arrest of more than 307 suspects, confiscation of 43 firearms and 209 rounds of ammunition, and recovery of 88 stolen or hijacked vehicles, according to Naidoo.
During the operation, there have been a total of 8,919 vehicle check points conducted with over 60,000 vehicles, over 163,000 people and nearly 3,000 premises being searched, he said.
"While we gear up for these operations, we call upon all people in South Africa to continue assisting the police in its efforts to combat crimes," said Naidoo.
Some of the ways people can be of assistance is to remain vigilant at all times and provide the police with information on all criminal activities, preferably before they are committed, he added.
The crackdown was carried out amid growing fear for crime among South Africans.
According to the recent Victims of Crime Survey by Statistics South Africa, housebreaking and home robbery are the most feared types of crime in South Africa.
This is despite households experiencing a decline in housebreaking and home robberies from 931,000 incidents in 2010 to 807,000 in 2015/16, the survey shows.
