Durban - Police teams across the country are working around the clock to get illegal firearms off the streets.
According to the 2022/2023 crime statistics, police investigated 284 dockets of multiple murders with 664 victims.
Police Minister, Bheki Cele, said the majority of these murders were committed with a firearm. Cele said in this quarter, 18 police officers were killed.
“Firearms are three times likely to be the weapon of choice in all the reported murders, 2 766 people were shot to death while 912 of KwaZulu-Natal murders were as a result of firearms followed by the Gauteng province with 697 deaths attributed to firearms and 498 people died from gunshot wounds in the Western Cape province,” Cele said.
The minister said heightened police action such as disruptive operations, targeted stop and searches and vehicle control point, between April and June 2022 have also meant more firearms, more drugs were taken of the streets.
Police have intensified operations with the launch of the #GunsOffTheStreets campaign.
In fact, SAPS in Gauteng in collaboration with various other law enforcement agencies have recovered over 300 unlicensed firearms and over 4 500 ammunition collectively over the past two weeks.
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