Cable thieves, drunk drivers arrested over the weekend
14 December 2020
The City of Cape Town's enforcement departments arrested 119 people the last few days for a range of illegal activities including cable theft, drunk driving and issued nearly 60 000 fines for various transgressions. Read more below:
Drunk drivers continue to show why getting behind the wheel when you are two sheets to the wind is a bad idea. Metro Police officers were attending to accident scenes at two different spots yesterday when they arrested a drunk driver at each site. Flaunting an illegal activity in front of the law is proof of the impairment brought on by drunk driving,' said Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security Alderman JP Smith.
In an illegal street racing operation held in the Sea Point/Camps Bay area yesterday, officers arrested two suspects for driving under the influence of alcohol and issued 204 fines for various other offences.
On Friday 11 December, Metro Police officers arrested a 24-year-old suspect for theft and malicious damage to property in Bonteheuwel after he was caught on CCTV surveillance cameras removing paving slabs. The officers caught him red handed at the scene and he was taken to Bishop Lavis police station.
It was a busy day for officers on Wednesday, 9 December when they responded to a complaint of cable theft in progress on the corner of Govan Mbeki Road and Hanover Park Avenue in Philippi.
The officers arrested a 29-year-old man for damage to essential infrastructure and the possession of suspected stolen property.
In a second such incident on the same day, officers responded to a complaint of four men trying to steal cameras and digging up cables corner of Jakes Gerwel and Jakkelsvlei Avenue, but by the time officers arrived the culprits had fled.
Officers kept an eye on the site and later one of the suspects returned to the scene of the crime and was arrested.
Metro Police officers regularly assist vehicles that break down and last week helped a motorist whose vehicle was damaged after he drove over stones that had been placed across the roadway on the N2.
The officers removed the stones and rocks from the roadway.
In addition, the City's Metro Police, Law Enforcement and Traffic Service Departments collectively arrested 119 people for various transgressions which include the possession of drugs and the possession of stolen property and issued 59 621 fines.
'During the past week the Traffic Service alone issued 55 927 fines for a number of offences. Complaints about the lawlessness and reckless behaviour of taxi drivers flood us daily and traffic officers have impounded 3 174 taxis since July. Our officers are doing as much as possible and will continue to clamp down on the errant behaviour of all motorists,' said Alderman Smith.
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Published by:
City of Cape Town, Media Office
