Fourteen ‘extortionists’ killed in two weeks - Masemola

National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola says fourteen suspected extortionists have been killed in different parts of the country in the past two weeks. 

Extortion cases have been in the spotlight over the past few weeks, with people allegedly demanding so-called protection fees from business and institution owners to operate. 

The Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal have been the hardest hit. 

Masemola said 319 cases related to extortion have been reported countrywide from April 2023 until August 2024 

A total of 151 arrests have been made.

“The most brazen of these alleged extortionists were in the Eastern Cape province in the town of Mthatha, where three followed and tailed our National Intervention Unit members to their base,” Masemola said. 

"Our members had been conducting stop and searches in Mthatha during tracing operations and had earlier confiscated firearms from these alleged extortionists. These extortionists indeed got what they were looking for. They shot at our police officers – who were ready to defend and assert the authority of the state. 

"Three of these extortionists are being buried this weekend. Six others were also shot and killed in a confrontation with KwaZulu-Natal police.”

The commission also warned that the police have their sights set on an extortionist group operating in Mamelodi known as Boko Haram. 

At the same time, eight suspects were also shot and killed by police officers in Gauteng last week. 

Six were cash-in-transit robbers who had just robbed a cash van of an undisclosed amount of money in Germiston.

"We have confiscated 824 illegal firearms since the start of operation Shanela and over 70,000 of ammunition of various calibres. We are also working hard to bring an end to the scourge of extortion and related crimes.”

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