WESTERN CAPE – Continued efforts to remove unlicensed and prohibited firearms from the streets in the Western Cape yielded positive results when the police confiscated a firearm at Shepperd Avenue, Beaufort West in the Klein Karoo on 10 November 2020 during a crime prevention operation.
Information about an unlicensed firearm at the house was received from a member of the public. Vigilant members attached to the Provincial Organised Crime Investigation (Narcotics section), Klein Karoo K9 and Beaufort West police swiftly responded to the information when they embarked on an operation at the residence. Upon searching the house they found a 9mm Norinco with eight rounds of ammunition hidden in the bedroom. The members seized the firearm and arrested a 24-year-old suspect on a charge of possession of an unlicensed firearm.
The suspect is still in custody and will appear in court on Thursday, 12 November 2020.
In an unrelated matter, a 33-year-old suspect is due to appear in the Laingsburg Magistrates’ court today, 11 November 2020, after an unlicensed firearm was found in his possession at River Street, Laingsburg on Monday, 09 November 2020. Investigation into a case of theft at a nearby farm took the police to this house where the firearm, an Arminius revolver, was recovered. He was subsequently arrested and charged with possess of an unlicensed firearm.
Both firearms will be send to the forensic laboratory for ballistic tests.
