LEAP officers find 8 firearms, 1574 rounds of ammunition - anonymous tip off

Today, the Minister of Community Safety, Albert Fritz, welcomes reports that LEAP officers found 8 firearms, 2 rifles, 3 silencers and 1574 rounds of live ammunition.

At 21:56, an anonymous telephonic tipoff was received about firearms and ammunition being hidden for use by gangs in Belhar. A team of officers immediately proceeded to the location and began searching for the cache. Before long, a blue bag containing firearms and a black box containing ammunition was found. The firearms and ammunition were taken to Belhar Police Station for processing.

Minister Fritz said, “we are always very happy when officers are able to take an illegal gun off of the streets. We know what amount of misery that even a single gun can wrought on our communities. Here we have a situation where eight firearms and two rifles, as well as more than 1500 rounds of live ammunition, were all taken off of the street.”

Minister Fritz continued, “this is incredibly good work by LEAP officers. I want to thank them for following up on the tip-off and making this possible. They have been working to build the trust of community members, so that community members feel that they are able to pass on valuable information, which, as we know, is dangerous to do. So I want to thank the LEAP teams for their work in this regard.”

News of the find comes on the back of a report on LEAP activities for the week 1 to 7 November 2021; which included 6653 suspicious persons searched; 220 houses searches, and; 540 vehicles searched in 20 roadblocks.

A total of 98 suspects were arrested, including 55 for being in possession of drugs; 18 for being in possession of a dangerous weapon, and; 5 for being in possession of an imitation firearm.

In addition to an assortment of dangerous weapons, 9 full, 50 half, 41 quarter, and 5 crushed Mandrax tablets; 376 packets, 53 stoppe, 6 zols and 5 parcels of dagga; 63 packets of tik; two units of unga and; 1 packet and 16 straws of heroin, were all confiscated.

Minister Fritz said, “the purpose of LEAP is to enhance visible policing, and in these figures covering a seven-day period, we see that this is exactly what they are doing. There is an ever-increasing sense of law enforcement presence in our communities, and this shows that we are on the right track. We are working to make sure that each and every single community member is safe. And within that context, I want to thank all our LEAP officers for the work that they are doing for our communities.”

Minister Fritz concluded, “Of course, more must be done. And we will do more to make sure our communities are safe. We saw the importance of anonymous tip-offs, and I want to take the opportunity to thank the community members who gave the tip-offs which made the discovery of the arms cache in Belhar possible. In the same breath, I want to again appeal to community members to continue to do so; continue giving us the information so that we can act to ensure that we rid our streets of dangerous weapons and drugs. ”