Gang violence stabilised
2003-03-16 22:49
Cape Town - Ongoing gang-related violence on the Cape Flats seems to have stabilised after the deployment of hundreds of police last week in the affected areas, the Western Cape police commissioner said on Sunday.
Commissioner Lennit Max said that 232 suspects had been arrested since Thursday in Mitchells Plain, Bishop Lavis, Bonteheuwel, Steenberg, Manenberg and other parts of the Cape Peninsula.
At least one of them was a member of the Americans gang, one of the prevalent gangs on the Cape Flats.
The increased police presence became necessary after at least three young children were shot and killed in shoot-outs between gangs.
In the latest incident 10-year-old Desmone Smith was wounded in the Kalksteenfontein area on Thursday night. She died in hospital on Friday.
Max said several police operations had been launched on the Cape Flats since Thursday night, targeting "specific hotspot areas".
He said 380 members of the SAPS, SA National Defence Force, City Police and local law enforcement officers took part in an operation on Thursday.
More policemen and soldiers were deployed after the incident in which Smith was killed. Four men and boys aged between 14 and 24 were arrested, all of them linked to the shooting, Max said.
They were expected to appear in the Goodwood magistrate's court on Monday.
He said 26 more suspects were arrested on Thursday night for various crimes including murder, rape and other violent crimes.
A further 201 suspects were arrested by detectives in the Cape Peninsula during the same time for various serious offences.
Police operations continued over the weekend in an effort to stabilise gang fights in the identified areas.
"The operations maintained force levels of up to two hundred members during high risk periods."
Max said police concentrated on high visibility on the Cape Flats on Friday and Saturday and no major gang related incidents were reported in the areas targeted by them.
He said the operations would continue.
- SAPA