A total of 1032 suspects were arrested by the police in Gauteng during Operation Shanela conducted across the province between 20 and 22 June 2025. Police also 21 unlicensed firearms during this period. A total of 78 of these suspects were arrested for driving while under the influence of alcohol while 786 were arrested by the detectives during the tracing of wanted suspects. Other suspects were arrested at the roadblocks and during the raiding of illegal liquor outlets.
Provincial Commissioner of the police in Gauteng, Lieutenant General Tommy Mthombeni, led yet another integrated Operation Shanela in West Rand on Saturday evening, which resulted in the arrest of 79 suspects, off which, more than 20 of them were arrested for driving while under the influence of alcohol. Parallel Operations were conducted in Tshwane, Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni and Sedibeng Districts where 167 suspects were arrested.
In an effort to deal with proliferation of firearms in Gauteng, police recovered twenty-one firearms that include automatic rifles. These firearms will be taken for ballistic tests to establish if they were not used in the commission of other serious and violent crimes.
The arrested suspects are expected to appear at various Magistrate’s Courts around Gauteng on Monday, 23 June 2025 while others were released after paying admission of guilty fines.