Latest news with #TacticalResponseTeam
News24
3 days ago
- News24
Three suspected robbers killed in Joburg police shootout
Three suspected robbers were shot dead during a shootout with police in Johannesburg on Sunday morning. The incident followed a crime intelligence-driven operation conducted by a multidisciplinary team, including the Gauteng Tactical Response Team, the Anti-Gang Unit, the DPCI Tracking Team, Gauteng Traffic Police Airwing, SAPS National Counterintelligence, CAP Specialised Operations, Bad Boyz Security, and Tracker Connect. According to police spokesperson Captain Tintswalo Sibeko, the operation was launched following a business robbery at a shop in Johannesburg Central. 'When the [crime operation] members attempted to stop the suspects at Riverlea, the suspects opened fire, leading to a shootout. 'Three suspects were fatally shot, and the fourth suspect was declared dead by paramedics without sustaining any injuries,' said Sibeko. Two unlicensed firearms and stolen items were recovered. Police have opened cases of business robbery, attempted murder, and possession of unlicensed firearms.
The South African
18-06-2025
- The South African
Foreign couple arrested for forcing SA women into online porn
Authorities in Tshwane have arrested a Zimbabwean woman and her Nigerian husband for allegedly trafficking women and forcing them to perform in online porn. The Tshwane Metro Police Department's Tactical Response Team, working with the South African Police Service, carried out the arrests on Monday 16 June after receiving a tip-off. According to TMPD senior superintendent Isaac Mahamba, the officers traced the female suspect to a property in Gezina, Pretoria North. 'She was suspected of luring young women and coercing them into filming online pornography,' Mahamba said. Officers followed the woman to a second location in Pretoria North, where they found four women. Three were South African citizens and one a Malawian national, allegedly forced to perform online sex acts using recording equipment and large screens. The women, aged between 18 and 38, told officers the suspect was holding them against their will. They also said she had taken their identification documents. Police arrested the Zimbabwean woman on the scene. Further investigation led police to a separate address where they arrested her Nigerian husband. Both suspects face charges of human trafficking and forcing the production of online porn. Police have not ruled out further arrests as the investigation continues. Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1 Subscribe to The South African website's newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp, Facebook, X and Bluesky for the latest news.
The Citizen
18-06-2025
- The Citizen
Zim woman and Nigerian husband arrested for sexual exploitation
The victims were three South African citizens and a Malawian national who were allegedly held against their will. A Zimbabwean woman and her Nigerian husband have been arrested for alleged human trafficking and coercing women into online pornography in Tshwane. According to the City of Tshwane, the Tshwane Metro Police Department's (TMPD) Tactical Response Team, in collaboration with members of the South African Police Service (Saps), arrested the two suspects on Monday. 'The officers received information and pursued leads regarding a Zimbabwean woman suspected of trafficking young women and coercing them into producing online pornography. The female suspect was successfully traced at a premises in Gezina, Pretoria North,' said senior superintendent Isaac Mahamba. ALSO READ: Child pornography case: It took 40 days for authorities to download material seized from couple 'The suspect led the officers to a residence in Pretoria North, where they discovered four female victims aged between 18 and 38 years actively engaged in online sexual performances using large screens and recording equipment.' The victims were three South African citizens and a Malawian national who were allegedly held against their will. During interviews, the women alleged that their identification documents were being withheld by the female suspect, who claimed to be their employer. The Zimbabwean woman was immediately arrested. ALSO READ: Luxury vehicle and R647 000 seized from alleged child pornography couple Further investigation led officers to a separate address, where her husband, a Nigerian national, was arrested. Both suspects were formally charged with human trafficking and the forced production of online pornography. The police have not ruled out the possibility of more arrests as the investigation progresses. Couple arrested for child pornography In another incident last week, police arrested a 47-year-old woman and a 48-year-old man in Bloubergstrand, in the Western Cape, for the alleged sexual abuse of their two daughters, aged three and eight. ALSO READ: 40-year-old stepfather sentenced to 15 years for sexual grooming and child pornography 'The suspects face multiple charges, including the production of child sexual abuse material (commonly referred to as 'child pornography'), rape, sexual assault and sexual grooming,' said police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Amanda van Wyk. 'The operation was carried out by a multidisciplinary team comprising members of the national and Western Cape Serial and Electronic Crime Investigations Units, officials from the Department of Social Development supported by the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI),' the police said. Several electronic devices were seized during the arrest. Police said the investigation remains ongoing. READ NEXT: EC father sentenced to more than 3 000 years for child pornography and sexual abuse
The Citizen
22-05-2025
- The Citizen
Hawks recover R9m in stolen Eskom property at Bloemfontein plot
A Hawks-led joint operation involving the Tactical Response Team; Firearms, Liquor and Second-Hand Goods department; Local Criminal Record Centre, Eskom, and Centlec has led to the recovery of suspected stolen property worth R9m at a plot on the outskirts of Bloemfontein. Bloemfontein Courant reports that, according to Lieutenant Colonel Zweli Mohobeleli, the operation was conducted on Tuesday. 'Serious Organised Crime Investigation detectives had approached the court for a search warrant after learning about a warehouse on the plot where the loot was being stored. Upon searching the premises, they found different voltage transformers, rolls of copper cable, and several loose items including electricity meter boxes. Eskom officials positively identified the property,' says Mohobeleli. Free State head of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation Major General Mokgadi Bokaba says work to bring those responsible for the theft to book has started. 'We will leave no stone unturned in ensuring the protection of essential infrastructure,' she adds. Breaking news at your fingertips… Follow Caxton Network News on Facebook and join our WhatsApp channel. Nuus wat saakmaak. Volg Caxton Netwerk-nuus op Facebook en sluit aan by ons WhatsApp-kanaal. Read original story on At Caxton, we employ humans to generate daily fresh news, not AI intervention. Happy reading!
IOL News
15-05-2025
- Politics
- IOL News
‘Crime is planned from prison,' says former police minister Bheki Cele
Former Police Minister has disclosed that South Africa's violent crime is planned from within prisons by inmates serving life sentences. Image: X/@SizweMpofu-Walsh Former Police Minister Bheki Cele has made a shocking revelation, claiming that most of South Africa's violent crime is being planned and organised from behind bars by inmates serving life sentences. 'Most of the crime is planned from prison,' Cele said during an interview on the Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh Xperience (SMWX) podcast. 'The people that are doing life sentences, they run crime outside.' Cele, who served as Minister of Police from 2018 to 2024, said correctional facilities have become a place where criminal syndicates are coordinating illicit activities beyond prison walls. 'Correctional facilities themselves are, in some ways, reproducing crime,' he said. 'One day I was phoned by a guy in prison who refused to tell me who he was. He warned me that a chief was going to be killed in Ulundi. He gave me names, the lodge, and everything.' Cele said he passed the information to KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi. 'When Mkhwanazi got there, he found exactly what the caller had described. That came from someone inside prison,' he said. Cele also said the Wellington Prison, Mthatha in the Eastern Cape is known as a planning centre for conflicts in the taxi industry. 'That's a big problem. The case of Thabo Bester was high-profile, but there are many like him. Not just escapees, people who are still inside, sending out plans,' he said. He added that addressing crime in South Africa requires more than just empowering the police. 'You can't just strengthen the police. You need to strengthen the entire criminal justice system,' Cele said. Cele, who served as National Commissioner of Police from 2009 to 2011 before being removed in 2012 over misconduct allegations, said crime statistics during his leadership were significantly lower. 'Go study the crime stats from 2009 to 2012. They came down. Not just by numbers, South Africans said they could sleep with their doors open,' he said. He credited the drop in crime to strategic collaboration during preparations for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Cele said they created the Tactical Response Team, known as the 'AmaBherethe,' after a cash heist in Pretoria where two men and women in blue were killed. 'Police at the scene couldn't pursue suspects driving high-performance vehicles in their standard-issue Corollas,' Cele said. He said the TRT served as a buffer between regular police stations and elite units like the National Intervention Unit and the Special Task Force. 'We bought GTIs and BMWs for the unit. We strengthened the force. At the time, we had about 195,000 police officers for a population of 50 million,' Cele said. But after leaving office in 2012, Cele said many of these initiatives were dismantled. 'When I returned in 2018, South Africa had grown to 60 million people, but the police officers had declined to 184,000…We had lost 15,000 officers,' he said. He said after that, he then approached President Cyril Ramaphosa to fund the training of new officers in three cycles of 10,000 every year, which restored the police numbers to 2010 levels. Cele lamented the declining morale in the police force, adding that in a month during his tenure, about 312 officers resigned. 'I called some of them to ask why. One warrant officer told me, 'When my daughter was born, I was a warrant officer. She's a graduate now, and I'm still a warrant officer,'' Cele said. Cele said meaningful crime reduction will require more community engagement. 'I don't care how many police you put on the street, if communities aren't part of safety and security, we won't win,' he said. 'These criminals are sons and husbands of people who live in those communities.' He expressed concern over South Africa's rates of gender-based violence (GBV). 'In just three months, 10,000 women are raped. Half of them are raped in their own homes, by their brothers, stepfathers, or other family members,' Cele said. 'Where are the police when a sibling rapes a sibling?' Cele also blamed undocumented immigrants as a serious concern. 'The worst part is, when they commit crime, they are untraceable and can easily disappear. That poses a major challenge,' he said. He said the entire security cluster needs to be strengthened to address the scale and complexity of South Africa's crime crisis. 'There's still a lot of work to do,' he said. IOL News
