Govt focuses on organised crime – Nqakula
Posted 30th June 2008 at 06:19 PM by NewsTracker
By Janine du Plessis
Pretoria – Organised crime wreaks havoc on society and therefore it is a crime government is paying particular attention to, says Minister of Safety and Security, Charles Nqakula.
Briefing the media on the latest Crime Trends Report, the minister said while organised crime made up a small percentage of the total criminal activity in the country, it was still a concern as it affected other areas of society.
The latest crime statistics indicate a continued steady decline in crime levels in South Africa.
However, government noted that the levels of crime are still unacceptably high.
“Organised crime continues to be a big problem because of the damage it inflicts on society. Firearms are used in many organised crime cases and people are killed, including innocent bystanders.
“Organised criminal gangs are also involved in the elicit drug trade which is affecting many of our people, especially the youth. The organised gangs also use their ill-begotten financial resources to corrupt people,” said Mr Nqakula.
Police identified and investigated 145 organised crime groups during the period from 2007 to 2008.
Most of them were involved in drug-related crime, motor vehicle theft, the hijacking of motor vehicles and trucks, fraud, corruption, trafficking in non-ferrous metals, precious metals and stones.
“[A total of] 131 syndicate leaders and 375 syndicate members (or runners) were arrested.
“This means that 27.41 percent of the organised crime projects that were under investigation for the period under review were taken to court,” the minister said.
Of the total arrests of 1 274 062 made by the police during the period under review, 170 097 were for social related contact crimes and 24 592 for violent organised crime.
Police analyst Dr Chris de Kock said however there had been a significant decrease in cash-in-transit robberies which is a highly organised type of crime.
The number of cash-in-transit robberies decreased from 467 to 395 between 2007 and 2008.
However, Mr de Kock warned that the gangs involved could have shifted their attention somewhere else, such as automatic teller machine (ATM) bombings.
“One of the latest developments involves attacks or bombings aimed at ATMs. During 2005, only 12 such incidents were recorded, which escalated to 54 incidents during 2006, 386 incidents during 2007 and a projected total of 538 for 2008.
“The increase between 2005 and 2007 alone stands at 374 cases, namely from 12 to 386 incidents.”
He said during the past three to four months, since the successful strikes against cash-in-transit robberies, the nature of ATM bombings had advanced.
The criminals involved have recently shifted their attention from less populated areas to the metropolitan areas or cities themselves. The targeted areas were also richer.
Previously, the criminals were only made up of two or three members, however, gangs of 10 to 14 heavily armed men in at least two vehicles were now carrying out these robberies.
The bombings were also becoming more sophisticated as gangs were using double bomb blasts as opposed to only one.
Dr de Kock said these changes had resulted in more monetary gain and more police casualties.
On the whole, the crime trends show that Government has made various interventions to fight crime in the country. Police stations have been beefed up with more officers and better resources and community or geographic policing have been increased to curb crime in informal settlements.
Partnerships with communities, business, labour movements and religious sectors have also yielded positive results. - BuaNews
Pretoria – Organised crime wreaks havoc on society and therefore it is a crime government is paying particular attention to, says Minister of Safety and Security, Charles Nqakula.
Briefing the media on the latest Crime Trends Report, the minister said while organised crime made up a small percentage of the total criminal activity in the country, it was still a concern as it affected other areas of society.
The latest crime statistics indicate a continued steady decline in crime levels in South Africa.
However, government noted that the levels of crime are still unacceptably high.
“Organised crime continues to be a big problem because of the damage it inflicts on society. Firearms are used in many organised crime cases and people are killed, including innocent bystanders.
“Organised criminal gangs are also involved in the elicit drug trade which is affecting many of our people, especially the youth. The organised gangs also use their ill-begotten financial resources to corrupt people,” said Mr Nqakula.
Police identified and investigated 145 organised crime groups during the period from 2007 to 2008.
Most of them were involved in drug-related crime, motor vehicle theft, the hijacking of motor vehicles and trucks, fraud, corruption, trafficking in non-ferrous metals, precious metals and stones.
“[A total of] 131 syndicate leaders and 375 syndicate members (or runners) were arrested.
“This means that 27.41 percent of the organised crime projects that were under investigation for the period under review were taken to court,” the minister said.
Of the total arrests of 1 274 062 made by the police during the period under review, 170 097 were for social related contact crimes and 24 592 for violent organised crime.
Police analyst Dr Chris de Kock said however there had been a significant decrease in cash-in-transit robberies which is a highly organised type of crime.
The number of cash-in-transit robberies decreased from 467 to 395 between 2007 and 2008.
However, Mr de Kock warned that the gangs involved could have shifted their attention somewhere else, such as automatic teller machine (ATM) bombings.
“One of the latest developments involves attacks or bombings aimed at ATMs. During 2005, only 12 such incidents were recorded, which escalated to 54 incidents during 2006, 386 incidents during 2007 and a projected total of 538 for 2008.
“The increase between 2005 and 2007 alone stands at 374 cases, namely from 12 to 386 incidents.”
He said during the past three to four months, since the successful strikes against cash-in-transit robberies, the nature of ATM bombings had advanced.
The criminals involved have recently shifted their attention from less populated areas to the metropolitan areas or cities themselves. The targeted areas were also richer.
Previously, the criminals were only made up of two or three members, however, gangs of 10 to 14 heavily armed men in at least two vehicles were now carrying out these robberies.
The bombings were also becoming more sophisticated as gangs were using double bomb blasts as opposed to only one.
Dr de Kock said these changes had resulted in more monetary gain and more police casualties.
On the whole, the crime trends show that Government has made various interventions to fight crime in the country. Police stations have been beefed up with more officers and better resources and community or geographic policing have been increased to curb crime in informal settlements.
Partnerships with communities, business, labour movements and religious sectors have also yielded positive results. - BuaNews
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