SAPS
The National police commissioner General Fannie Masemola says 14 extortionists were shot and killed in various provinces in the past two weeks.
He, and the national head of the Hawks Lieutenant-General Godfrey Lebeya held a joint media briefing on Thursday in Johannesburg to provide a countrywide update on policing operations.
Masemola says the most "brazen" of the alleged extortionists were shot dead in Mthatha in the Eastern Cape when three gunmen confronted officers from the National Intervention Unit who were returning to base following an operation in Mthatha West.
The deceased included self-proclaimed traditional leader, Sakumzi Mareke.tion Unit.
"We need the various community's assistance to report those extorting our people. We will continue the fight to bring them to book," said General Masemola.
He says thus far, the Western Cape has recorded the most cases, followed by the Eastern Cape and the Gauteng.
"Western Cape registered the highest cases with 119, followed by Eastern Cape with 82 and Kwazulu-Natal with 63 and Gauteng with 31 cases."
In terms of a breakdown of the reported cases, 69 arrests were made in the Western Cape, 24 in the Eastern Cape, 23 in Gauteng, and 20 arrests were registered in KwaZulu-Natal.
According to Masemola, among the people who have been arrested are seven police officers who were nabbed in KZN after being accused of soliciting about R100 000 from a business owner and confiscating cigarettes from his business premises, and demanding that he pay them to make the case disappear.
"The seven have already appeared in court on a charge of extortion, corruption, and defeating the administration of justice. It is however disappointing but at the same time pleasing to have our own arrested."
Furthermore, he said, in Gauteng, eight criminals were shot and killed during Hawks-led operations in the past week.
"Six of them were Cash-in-transit robbers who had just robbed a cash van of an undisclosed amount of money in Germiston. An AK47 and four pistols were found in their possession."
Meanwhile, in Port Alfred in the Eastern Cape, R30 million worth of cannabis and cannabis-related products were seized during a recent Hawks operation.
