Cabinet has welcomed progress being made in the fight against crime through Operation Shanela, which continues to make its mark in rooting out criminality. 'Between 2 and 8 September 2024, law enforcement agencies arrested 13 691 suspects for serious crimes such as murder, rape, possession of illegal firearms and business robberies,' Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said during a post Cabinet media briefing on Friday. Since its inception in May 2023, Operation Shanela consists of regular stop and searches, roadblocks, vehicle check points, high visibility patrols, including foot patrols, the tracing of wanted suspects with a focus on murder and rape suspects, and compliance inspections at liquor outlets and second-hand goods dealers. Through detectives and crime intelligence tracing operations, roadblocks, as well as stop and searches - police have taken a bold and decisive approach in protecting the communities that they serve. Since its launch, Operation Shanela has resulted in the arres t of 850 375 suspects, and seizure of 824 illegal firearms and over 17 282 rounds of ammunition. In addition, drugs worth over R13 million were seized at the OR Tambo International Airport over the past two months, and copper worth over R20 million was recovered from a scrapyard near Durban, with a suspect arrested. 'Through a coordinated multidisciplinary and intelligence-led operations, law enforcement agencies are focused on dismantling extortion syndicates across the country. In the past two weeks, 14 extortionists were arrested in various provinces,' Ntshavheni said. Restoring Integrity of Law Enforcement Officers Through a multidisciplinary collaboration, law enforcement agencies have arrested 14 suspects in Mpumalanga on charges of fraud and corruption for issuing illegal learners' and driver's licences. Meanwhile, 11 traffic officers were also arrested for soliciting bribes from motorists along the N1 freeway in Limpopo. 'Three off-duty police officers and a civilian were arrested in Durban, KZN, for soliciting a R100 000 bribe from a businessman in exchange for the release of confiscated goods, and four more police officers handed themselves over to the SAPS on the same case,' the Minister said. Furthermore, eight suspects were arrested for alleged involvement on tender fraud and corruption amounting to R850 million in the City of Cape Town, Western Cape. Source: South African Government News Agency