Fifty people have been arrested for trespassing and various other offences at the Mascani informal settlement on land belonging to the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) next to a railway line in Railway Street in Woodstock, Cape Town, Western Cape police said on Saturday.
Woodstock police officers, with the assistance of various law enforcement agencies, executed a "legally authorised" cordon off and search warrant in Railway Street/Mascani during the early hours of Friday morning, Captain FC Van Wyk said.
"During the execution of the warrant by the multidisciplinary forces, 50 suspects (21 women and 39 men) were arrested for trespassing on Prasa property, and two suspects for being in possession of burned copper cables with an estimated weight of 60kg, a plastic bank bag containing tik [crystal methamphetamine], one Dell laptop, and a variety of equipment used in the abuse of drugs.
"During a preliminary investigation it was also determined that one of the suspects was wanted on a warrant of arrest for an outstanding case dating back to 2017," Van Wyk said.
The operation was conducted after community members and businesses in the close perimeter of Mascani informal settlement lodged various complaints about anti-social behaviour, drug abuse, drug peddling, prostitution, robberies, and business break-ins. All the arrested suspects were due to appear in the Cape Town Magistrate's Court on Monday, Van Wyk said.
Western Cape police commissioner Lt-Gen Khombinkosi Elvis Jula was "very pleased with this huge success", and expressed his sincere appreciation to all the officers who unconditionally braced the cold weather to restore and maintain law and order in the crime affected area.
He vouched that high density, concentrated operations of this nature would be ongoing to ensure the safety and security of all the inhabitants of the Woodstock policing precinct and its visitors, Van Wyk said.
- African News Agency (ANA),
