24 Jan 2018, Cape Town: Firearms have been found to be the prime generators of crime in the Western Cape. In order to address the proliferation of firearms which have fallen into the wrong hands in Philippi East, police conducted foot patrols in the Marikana informal settlement today and searched a shack where they found a rifle and arrested a 30 year old man for the illegal possession of the firearm.
Another firearm was also recovered by the police during a stop and search operation in Marikana this afternoon.
During this operation, they saw three men who raised their suspicion and, upon searching them, one was found to be in possession of a firearm without a license. Both the arrested suspects will appear in the Athlone Magistrates’ court, once charged.
The Provincial Commissioner of the Western Cape, Lieutenant General KE Jula, commended the members for displaying the effectiveness of the back to basics approach by removing illegal firearms from the streets of Philippi East.