Police destroy 19 000 firearms, remove 65 000 from circulation
The South African Police Service say they have removed more than 65 000 firearms from circulation in the past 12 months, while 18 927 were destroyed last week.
These firearms were either confiscated during crime prevention operations or voluntarily surrendered or forfeited to the state during the firearms amnesty period between 2019 and 2021, said national police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe.
Mathe said the 65 519 firearms were cleared after undergoing ballistic tests to determine if they had been used during the commission of a crime.
"Before the recent firearm destruction, 20 590 firearms were destroyed in July 2022 and 26 002 destroyed in March 2022."
Some of the firearms were recovered as a result of tip-offs from the community.
"In its resolve to bring down the volumes of serious and violent crimes, the SAPS is intensifying operations to detect and remove illegal firearms and ammunition from the hands of criminals,” said Mathe.
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