Over 100 Guns, 14,000 Arrests: Inside a Week of Nationwide Police Takedowns

In a sweeping seven-day national crackdown, the South African Police Service (SAPS) has made a significant dent in the country’s illegal firearms arsenal, confiscating 119 illegal guns and over 1,144 rounds of ammunition while arresting a staggering 14,589 suspects. The operations, part of the ongoing Shanela II initiative, targeted a broad spectrum of serious crimes from murder and rape to drug trafficking and illegal mining.

According to police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Amanda van Wyk, the coordinated blitz, which ran from 26 January to 1 February 2026, also saw 2,032 wanted suspects traced and arrested. The recovered firearms included 10 rifles, seven shotguns, and five homemade weaponsall now removed from circulation.

A Snapshot of the Nationwide Haul

Beyond the firearms, the operations yielded a massive haul of contraband and arrests:

• 124 suspects arrested for murder

• 164 suspects arrested for rape

• 532 suspects arrested for drug dealing

• 51 hijacked or stolen vehicles recovered

• Over 700 dangerous weapons seized

• Contraband goods worth over R1 million confiscated

Provincial Highlights: Shootouts, Explosives, and Copper Theft

The operations saw intense action across provinces:

• Gauteng: A shootout in Midrand left one suspect dead and two arrested, with a firearm and cash seized. In Atteridgeville, police recovered two pistols, a shotgun, six magazines, and ammunition.

• KwaZulu-Natal: A confrontation in Adam’s Mission resulted in four suspects fatally wounded. In a separate operation in Ntuzuma, explosives with detonators were found in a vehicle, leading to an arrest. Another operation in KwaMaphumulo netted ten unlicensed firearms, including AK47 and R5 rifles, with seven arrests.

• Western Cape: 25 foreign nationals were detained for possession of stolen Eskom copper cables.

SAPS reiterated its commitment to removing illegal firearms as key drivers of violent crime and urged the public to continue reporting criminal activity via Crime Stop (08600 10111) or the MySAPS App. The scale of the weekly takedown underscores the relentless pressure police aim to maintain on crime syndicates, though it also starkly reflects the formidable challenge of curbing violence in communities awash with illegal weapons.