Cape Town - There has been a notable increase in the confiscation of firearms, ammunition and drugs in Cape Town.
This is according to the latest statistics for the City’s metro police and law enforcement departments.
The stats show there was a 34% increase, year-on-year, in the number of firearms removed from the streets by the two entities.
This was no small accomplishment, according to JP Smith, Mayco member for safety and security, as it highlighted the severity of illicit guns, he said.
Smith said even though personnel removed more than 300 weapons from circulation over the past year, gun violence had persisted.
“Add to that the fact that the SAPS has destroyed more than 250 000 weapons in the last five years, and it begs the question: Where is the apparent unlimited supply of illicit firearms coming from?” Smith said.
A total of 342 arrests were made for the possession of unlicensed firearms, 308 for replica firearms and 396 for ammunition.
A total of 88 482 units of drugs were seized.
Cape Flats Safety Forum chairperson Abie Isaacs called for a special probe to be set up to tackle gun violence.
“We further call for the decentralisation of firearm destruction. These operations should be intelligence-led.
“A reference point was KZN, where it was intelligence-led and resulted in the confiscation of illegal guns.
“The probe should include who is the shooter who gave them orders to shoot and deal with the full might of the law. The Poca (Prevention of Organised Crime Act) should be central to this probe unit,” Isaacs said.
A researcher at Gun Free SA, Claire Taylor, said there should be tighter controls over legal firearms held by the state and civilians in order to stop the distribution of illegal guns.
“This is because most, if not all, illegal guns in South Africa were once legal before being leaked through loss, theft, fraud and corruption into the illegal pool.
“For instance, last year an average of 25 guns were reported to the police as lost or stolen every day – 23 from civilians and two from the police,” Taylor said.
Meanwhile, police arrested three suspects for the unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition yesterday, following a shooting in Delft South.
Police spokesperson Wesley Twigg said the suspects would appear in the Bellville Magistrate’s Court once charged.
“The members responded to a shooting incident at about 12.15am in Delft South, where one person was wounded.
“A description of the vehicle that was used in the shooting was given. At about 3am the members spotted the vehicle and pulled it over.
“They ensued with a search of the vehicle and the occupants during which they found a .38 Special revolver with ammunition and subsequently arrested three adult males,” said Twigg.
byron.lukas@inl.co.za
Cape Argus