JOHANNESBURG - National Police Commissioner General Fannie Masemola says detectives have arrested more than 200 000 suspects for a range of serious crimes during the festive season period.
Those arrests include business and house robberies, carjackings, murder, rape and the illegal possession of firearms.
This was revealed by the National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola on Friday during a media briefing on the successes achieved by the SAPS Safer Festive Season Operations.
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Masemola said of those 4,029 suspects were arrested for murder and attempted murder, while 2,793 were arrested for rape and attempted rape.
He added that drug-related offences made up a significant portion of the arrests, with 33,397 suspects arrested for drug possession and 4,281 for dealing in drugs.
Beyond the festive period, Masemola said the courts had also secured convictions, with 2,738 accused persons sentenced to direct imprisonment.
Of these, 199 were sentenced to life imprisonment.
Masemola said police remain confident that the ongoing strategy to strengthen detective capacity will help ensure that those who harm others and commit heinous crimes are brought to book.